PHILIP 
VERRILL 
HIGH  ELS 


THURLEY  RUXTON 


UNIT.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


The  slightest  panic  at  the  steering  post,  and  the  crash 
mould  startle  the  air 


PACK  25 


THURLEY  RUXTON 


BY 
PHILIP  VERRILL  MIGHELS 

AUTHOR  OF 
"THE  FURNACE  OF  GOLD" 


Illustrations  by 
JAMES  MONTGOMERY  FLAGG 


NEW  YORK 
DESMOND  FITZGERALD,  INC. 

1911 


COPYRIGHT,  1910, 
BY  PHILIP  V.  MIGHELS 


COPYRIGHT,  1911, 
BY  DESMOND  FITZGERALD,  INC. 


All  Rights  Reserved 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  A  SUNSET 1 

II  A  DEPARTED  GLORY 7 

III  A  COLLEGE  WIDOW 11 

IV  A  FATEFUL  ENCOUNTER          18 

V  TEMPTATION  AND  A  CREST 30 

VI  THE  GODS  OF  CHANGE 36 

VII  A   CINDERELLA  PROPOSITION        45 

VIII  WANTED,  A  DISCOVERY 52 

IX  REVELATIONS  IN  A  RUNAWAY 58 

X  A  ROYAL  ROLE 69 

XI  CONFIRMING  A  RUMOR 76 

XII  HORSES  AND  HUMANS 81 

XIII  ELEMENTS  OF  COMPLICATION 86 

XIV  A  TRIUMPH  AND  A  JAR 94 

XV  THE  FLAW  IN  THE  GEM 101 

XVI  Boors  TO  TREMBLE  IN 113 

XVII  LOST  GROUND  TO  BE   REGAINED 121 

XVIII  DELAYED  DECISIONS 128 

XIX  THREATS  AND  CARRIAGES 134 

XX  AN  IMPERIAL  VISITOR 143 

XXI  WENCK,  FOR   HERTZEGOTHA        149 

XXII  LADY  BOUNTIFUL 155 

XXIII  THE  SOUP  THICKENS  MORE 162 

XXIV  A  SINGULAR  ALLIANCE 168 

XXV  A    DUKE    IMPENDING        172 

XXVI  A  ROYAL  SUITOR  177 


2131388 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXVII     WHAT  WALLS  MAY  SEPARATE 185 

XXVIII     THE  CAR  OF  FATES 193 

XXIX     BARON   HOCHHAUS 203 

XXX     A  PLENIPOTENTIARY  BEGS 211 

XXXI     THE  CALDRON  BUBBLES 223 

XXXII     A  BAITED  TRAP 234 

XXXIII  A  STILL  ALARM 240 

XXXIV  A  SHATTERED  HOPE 249 

XXXV     THE    ICE   BLUE   EYES 259 

XXXVI     AN  OFFER  OF  HELP 268 

XXXVII     THE  BARON  AND  A  KNIGHT 276 

XXXVIII     THE  ONE  WEAK  LINK 284 

XXXIX     A  DESPERATE   FLIGHT 294 

XL     A   NIGHT  OF  TOIL 301 

XLI     THE    GOLD  OF  MORNING        310 

XLII     THE  RACE 318 

XLI II     A  JOY  RESISTED 327 

XLIV     UNEXPECTED  AID 333 

XLV     A  DROVE  OF  LIONS 340 

XLVI     ANSWERING  THE  COUNT 349 

XLVII     A   THOROUGHBRED         356 

XLVIII     A   CLIMAX 363 

XLIX    A  TRYSTING  PLACE 369 

L  PRINCESS  THURLEY  376 


CHAPTER  I 

A    SUNSET 

AT  the  end  of  a  perfect  day  in  June,  with  indolent 
warmth  and  perfume  in  the  air,  New  Haven  Har- 
bor was  a  theater  of  color,  life,  and  song.  The  sunset 
splashed  the  dancing  tides  with  gold,  vermilion,  liquid 
fire,  and  blue;  a  hundred  rose- white  wings  of  yachts, 
canoes,  and  catboats  were  lifted  gracefully  against 
empurpling  shadows  as  they  glided  to  and  fro  in  paths 
of  pleasure;  and  a  crew  of  lusty  college  youths  sang 
tuneful  melodies  which  floated  on  the  lazy  breeze  in 
charming  harmony  with  hour  and  scene  and  season. 
It  was  one  of  those  evenings,  perilous  throughout  the 
world,  in  which  the  very  atmosphere  becomes  the 
subtlest  of  love's  philters  and  youth  rises  gladly  to  the 
draft. 

Among  the  winged  water  craft  was  one  particularly 
striking  sloop,  fast  parting  the  ripples  of  amethyst  and 
green  as  she  slipped  straight  homeward  toward  the 
landing  stage,  which  was  still  half  a  mile  to  the  lee. 
It  was  not  that  the  sloop  was  extra  large;  it  was 
merely  that  her  sails  were  gorgeously  tinted,  in  the 
manner  of  boats  that  ply  the  waterways  of  Venice. 
It  was  a  wonderful  tint  of  orange  she  spread  against 
the  sky,  with  a  strange  device  in  gold  far  up  in  the 
peak  of  her  canvas.  In  the  glory  of  the  sun's  last 


2  THURLEY  RUXTON 

riot  of  color,  she  seemed  some  fragment  of  the  sea's 
and  sky's  mosaic,  blown  adrift  upon  it  all  and  bearing 
away  to  the  green  of  the  wooded  shores.  And,  as  if  to 
complete  her  perfections  in  the  scene,  her  slender  red 
tiller  lay  snugly  in  the  palm  of  a  girl  of  exceptional 
beauty. 

It  was  Thurley  Ruxton,  bare  of  arm  and  bare  of  head, 
with  her  eyes  gazing  straight  past  Gaillard,  sitting 
near,  to  the  landing  stage  for  which  she  was  skilfully 
heading.  What  a  marvel  of  color  she  presented !  Her 
hair  was  gold,  absolute  gold,  of  astonishing  luxuriance 
and  luster.  Her  eyes  were  the  deepest  of  chocolate 
brown.  Her  brows  were  almost  black,  and  arched  with 
exquisite  lightness  of  outline.  In  her  cheeks  glowed 
the  warmth  of  a  soft,  red  rose,  against  a  white-rose  tint 
of  neck  and  chin.  Her  lips,  which  out-reddened  the 
sunset's  own  vermilion,  were  slightly  parted  over  teeth 
of  daintiest  regularity  and  pearliness.  Her  costume, 
of  gold-brown  pongee  silk,  with  a  tiny  crimson  tie, 
found  the  most  engaging  completeness  in  her  little,  red, 
low  cut  shoes,  near  the  big,  shining  brown  ones  of 
Gaillard. 

The  boat  was  Gaillard's  Tigress.  Thurley  had 
sailed  it  before,  while  he,  as  now,  had  sat  there  to 
watch  her  in  his  calm,  unemotional  manner,  nodding  ap- 
proval from  time  to  time  with  an  air  of  conceded  lord- 
ship over  all.  Perhaps  it  was  something  in  this  lord- 
ship attitude  that  appealed  to  Thurley's  nature. 

She  was  capable,  fearless,  and  self-reliant  herself, 
and  such  a  woman  loves  in  a  man  the  strong,  primordial 
assumption  of  ownership.  She  had,  however,  loved 
him  from  the  first;  and  five  long  months  of  consent  in 
her  heart  had  effaced  all  possibility  of  analysis,  either 


A  SUNSET  3 

of  her  own  emotions  or  of  Gaillard's  character.  She 
was  happy  in  his  presence,  particularly  happy  here 
this  evening,  and  that  was  almost  enough.  The  fact 
that  no  actual  pledge  had  passed  between  them  was 
the  least  of  her  negligible  worries.  By  a  thousand 
signs  she  felt  secure  in  possession  of  his  love. 

Despite  the  fact  that  her  gaze  was  apparently 
fixed  on  the  shoreward  course,  she  was  watching  him 
now  and  thrilling  anew  as  she  felt  his  frequent  glances 
fall  upon  her.  She  met  one  such  look  with  all  the 
glory  of  her  eyes,  giving  him  generously  the  fondness, 
the  admiration,  the  confession,  of  her  inmost  self,  while 
a  warm  tide  of  color  rose  to  her  face  from  the  quick, 
happy  tripping  of  her  heart. 

He  was  handsome,  big,  and  athletic,  a  smooth- 
shaved,  blue-eyed  fellow  of  robust  health  and  color, 
with  the  blackest  of  hair  and  the  straightest,  most  per- 
fect of  features.  In  his  white  flannel  suit,  immaculate 
and  absolutely  faultless,  he  fitted  a  niche  on  his  spot- 
less sloop  as  a  diamond  fits  in  its  setting.  He  was  pos- 
sibly a  trifle  overperfect,  a  condition  due  perhaps  to 
lifelong  familiarity  with  wealth  and  all  its  tendencies 
to  focus  one's  attentions  on  oneself.  But  Thurley  was 
gratified,  thoroughly,  in  all  the  demands  of  her  being. 
He  was  a  splendid  product  of  the  very  latest  moment. 
She  loved  him  —  and,  heavens !  what  a  setting  for  love 
was  this  tropic  water,  air,  and  sky ! 

A  catboat,  crowded  full  of  Eli's  joyous  sons,  went 
frothing  by  not  twenty  yards  away.  With  one  accord 
the  boyish  skipper  and  his  company  swung  off  their 
caps  to  Thurley,  calling  out  in  gladness  of  the  meeting. 
And  all  were  repaid  by  her  friendly  smile,  despite  their 
deep-laid  envy  of  Gaillard.  They  were  gone  in  a  mo- 


4  THURLEY  RUXTON 

ment;  yet  in  Thurley's  heart  they  left  exultation. 
She  was  honestly  glad  to  be  popular,  glad  to  be  ad- 
mired, and  glad  to  know  what  homage  she  declined 
from  day  to  day  in  her  absolute  devotion  to  himself. 

The  more  she  could  bring  him  of  these  gifts  refused, 
the  more  precious  she  would  be  in  his  sight.  And  to 
be  to  him  dearer  than  all  the  world,  to  be  as  priceless 
in  his  daily  estimation  as  he  had  become  to  herself, 
this  was  the  dream  for  which  at  last  she  had  given  the 
kiss  that  symbolized  to  her  the  custody  of  all  her  sacred 
being.  Yet  the  look  she  beheld  in  Gaillard's  face 
when  the  boys  had  surged  by  in  their  course,  was  need- 
lessly inscrutable,  even  to  her  unexacting  mind. 

But  the  end  of  the  cruise  was  at  hand.  She  guided 
the  sloop  with  automatic  skill,  doubling  round  to  come 
up  in  the  wind  and  so  make  the  landing  at  the  stage. 
Then  at  last  she  observed,  as  they  neared  their  goal, 
the  tall,  slender  figure  of  Major  John  Phipps,  as  he 
lifted  his  hat  in  salute. 

If  a  momentary  twinge  of  disappointment,  occa- 
sioned by  Gaillard's  neglect  to  snatch  at  a  moment  in 
which  to  murmur  some  sweet  bit  of  nothingness  all  for 
themselves,  slightly  colored  the  joy  of  the  outing's  end, 
she  cast  it  aside  with  other  trifling  flaws  in  the  deep- 
lying  pleasure  of  the  hour. 

The  sloop  nosed  quietly  up  beside  the  planks,  and 
was  caught  by  the  jacky  there  in  charge.  The  Major, 
his  face  aglow  beneath  his  crown  of  snow-white  hair  and 
overhanging  brows,  stepped  like  the  veriest  young 
gallant  to  the  rail  to  offer  a  hand  for  Thurley's  disem- 
barking. 

"  By  Pollux ! "  he  said.  "  You  manage  a  boat  like 
a  master,  Miss  Ruxton!  Yes,  you  do,  I  swear!  I've 


A  SUNSET  5 

been  watching,  watching  for  the  last  fifteen  minutes. 
Superb!  How  are  you,  Acton?  How  do  you  do?" 

"  0.  K.,"  responded  Gaillard  succinctly,  "  thanks." 

Thurley  gave  one  of  her  hands  to  Gaillard,  the  other 
to  the  Major,  and  bounded  out  upon  the  stage.  She 
was  smiling  in  genuine  pleasure. 

"  It's  the  Tigress  you  find  superb,"  she  said,  "  su- 
perbly trained  and  tamed.  But  thank  you,  Major 
Phipps.  I  shall  treasure  your  compliment  most 
highly." 

"  I  meant  it,  Miss  Thurley,  I  meant  it  all,"  declared 
the  Major  earnestly.  "  Let  me  add  in  proof  of  my  sin- 
cerity that  I'm  looking  out  for  a  clever  young  woman 
to  steer  the  course  of  my  literary  labors,  down  at 
my  New  York  headquarters.  And  I  said  to  myself,  as 
I  saw  you  bring  in  the  Tigress,  '  Now,  there's  the 
young  woman  for  the  business ! '  I  did,  by  Pollux ! 
I  said  so,  emphatically!" 

Gaillard  was  looking  at  him  stonily. 

Thurley  slightly  colored.  "  Why  —  but  —  what 
an  idea !  " 

"  Excellent,  I  call  it  —  excellent,"  continued  the 
Major.  "  Some  one  said  you're  teaching  French  and 
German  here,  Miss  Thurley.  Limited  field  and  prob- 
ably quite  inadequate  remuneration  for  any  young 
woman  of  your  ability.  Takes  brains,  you  know,  to 
sail  a  sloop.  I  wish  I  might  prevail  upon  you  now, 
right  here,  to  undertake  the  guidance  of  my  labors. 
That  is,  of  course,  if  you  — "  He  left  it  unfinished 
as  he  noted  on  her  cheeks  the  telltale  banner  of  color. 

Gaillard  was  still  dumb  and  staring. 

"  You  are  very,  very  thoughtful,"  said  Thurley 
quietly,  turning  a  momentary  glance  on  Gaillard; 


6  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  but  I  fear  I  shall  have  to  —  "  She  paused,  and  the 
moment  grew  embarrassing. 

"I  see  —  I  see,"  said  the  Major  hurriedly,  redden- 
ing himself  and  smiling  understandingly  on  them  both. 
"  By  Pollux !  Of  course !  Pardonable  blindness,  I 
trust.  No  such  oversight  intended.  Glad  to  know 
you'll  —  ahem !  —  guide  a  far  more  —  ahem  —  poetic 
—  But  I  assure  you  I  feel  my  loss  keenly,  Miss 
Thurley,  very  keenly  indeed,  especially  after  I'd  made 
up  my  mind  to  —  but  —  Acton,  what  a  gorgeous 
sunset ! " 

"  Very  fine,"  said  Gaillard,  and  he  took  out  his 
watch  and  gave  it  a  glance  with  a  barely  perceptible 
show  of  impatience. 

"  The  sunset  reminds  me,  Major,  that  we  must 
hurry,"  said  Thurley,  feeling  some  constraint  in 
Gaillard's  manner.  "  Thank  you,  very  much  and  — 
good  by." 

She  held  out  her  hand,  which  the  Major  took  for  a 
momentary  pressure.  And  when  they  had  gone  he 
stood  gazing  earnestly  on  the  regal  young  figure  of 
the  girl  at  Gaillard's  side,  as  the  two  walked  away 
toward  the  town. 


CHAPTER  II 

A  DEPARTED  GLORY 

THEY  had  always  walked  the  mile  to  Thurley's  home, 
to  prolong  their  hour  of  pleasure.  To-night,  as  the 
dusk  of  evening  slowly  gathered,  they  were  both  excep- 
tionally silent.  Gaillard,  indeed,  had  been  far  more 
than  usually  reserved  all  afternoon. 

To  Thurley's  feminine  intuition  was  presently  vouch- 
safed an  inkling  of  portent  in  the  air.  From  time  to 
time  she  cast  a  glance  at  Gaillard's  face,  as  if  to  read 
his  thoughts.  She  found  him  gazing  straight  ahead, 
persistently.  A  worry  that  she  could  not  gloss  with 
day-end  happiness  was  present  in  her  mind. 

When  she  spoke  at  last  she  went  frankly  to  the  issue 
that  she  felt  had  been  presented.  "  What  a  very  odd 
encounter  with  the  Major!  It  was  —  just  a  little  bit 
emba  r  ras  s  in  g. " 

Gaillard  answered,  "  Yes."  He  still  looked  straight 
ahead. 

For  some  strange,  inexplicable  reason,  Thurley  felt 
a  sinking  at  her  heart.  She  summoned  her  courage 
to  proceed.  "  It  was  kind  of  the  Major,  I  am  sure, 
to  make  me  such  an  offer ;  but  of  course  —  " 

She  halted  it  there,  wishing  to  have  him  complete 
her  thought,  wishing  to  see  him  flare  up  warmly,  de- 
clare his  ownership  in  all  she  was,  and  even  abuse  the 
Major  for  his  blunder. 

But  he  stared  up  the  thoroughfare  and  was  silent, 
while  she  waited  at  his  side.  Then  at  last  he  said, 

7 


8  THURLEY  RUXTON 

somewhat  hoarsely,  "  Why  didn't  you  accept  what  he 
offered?  " 

For  a  moment  she  was  certain  she  had  heard  incor- 
rectly, that  some  unreal  fear  in  her  breast  had  voiced 
itself,  as  if  from  his  scarcely  parted  lips ;  but,  looking 
intently  on  his  set,  averted  face,  she  felt  an  almost 
overwhelming  weakness  attack  her,  and  her  cheeks  lost 
their  color  and  were  white. 

"  But  —  Acton  —  you  —  How  could  I  ?  "  she  fal- 
tered helplessly.  "  After  all  that's  happened  be- 
tween — "  and  she  halted  as  before. 

"  All  what?  "  he  said  after  a  moment. 

He  could  hardly  have  asked  a  question  more  brutal. 
She  realized  suddenly  that  all  she  had  given,  her  love, 
her  kiss,  which  to  her  had  been  so  very  much  indeed, 
meant  possibly  nothing  at  all  to  him,  save  a  pleasure  to 
be  taken  for  the  asking.  Even  then  she  did  not  and 
could  not  wholly  credit  her  senses. 

"  All  what!  "  she  repeated  weakly.     "  All  what!  " 

"  Yes  —  all  what  ?  "  His  voice  was  increasing  in 
firmness  as  he  found  her  weak  instead  of  accusing.  "  I 
should  think  you'd  be  glad  of  the  Major's  splen- 
did offer.  It  might  mean  a  very  great  improve- 
ment." 

"  Do  you  mean,"  she  said,  as  one  in  a  dream,  "  that 
—  that  all  you've  said  to  me  —  and  all  the  attention  — 
that  everything  we've  —  everything  means  nothing  at 
all  ?  You  —  you're  not  suggesting,  really  —  " 

"  See  here,  Thurley,"  he  broke  in  immediately, 
"  this  sort  of  thing  couldn't  go  on  forever !  You 
know  that.  I'm  going  away  to-morrow,  and  I'm  going 
abroad  next  week." 

All  the  weight  of  his  meaning,  suspended  before, 
crashed  down  on  her  unprotected  head,  as  it  were,  and 


A  DEPARTED  GLORY  9 

left  her  partially  stunned.  She  could  barely  think. 
She  could  not  reason ;  she  could  not  rise  to  anger. 

"  This  —  sort  of  thing?  "  she  repeated. 

"  Certainly  —  just  the  usual  college  sort  of  thing," 
he  confessed  baldly.  "  You  knew  all  along  I'd  some 
day  leave  and  follow  my  career,  the  career  my  family 
will  naturally  expect,  which  of  course  never  contem- 
plated this." 

She  closed  her  eyes  for  the  shame  that  rushed  upon 
her,  not  so  much  for  his  intimation  that  between  his 
family  and  hers  there  could  be  no  hint  of  equality,  not 
so  much  for  this  as  for  that  sickening  characterization 
of  their  association  as  the  "  usual  college  sort  of 
thing." 

Her  whole  nature  shrank  upon  itself,  abashed  and 
quivering.  The  love  she  had  given  him  she  could  not 
snatch  away,  it  had  gone  beyond  recalling;  but  the 
love  she  had  folded  to  her  heart  —  his  love  —  was 
gone,  while  still  her  hands  were  blindly  groping.  It 
had  never  been  hers ;  it  had  been  a  college  loan,  to  be 
taken  away  like  a  pin  or  any  trinket. 

It  seemed  incredible,  the  whole  affair,  untrue  that  a 
man  could  change  like  this  within  a  time  so  brief,  after 
all  he  had  said  and  all  he  had  done  and  all  she  had 
given  of  her  love. 

Her  voice  was  trembling  when  she  spoke.  "  You  — 
Acton,  you  surely  do  not  mean  that  —  I'm  not  to  see 
you  any  more  —  that  this  is  —  " 

"  Why  —  of  course  we  may  meet  —  sometime 
again,"  he  interposed.  "  Now  let's  forget  it.  We've 
been  good  friends,  and  what  more  could  we  ask? 
You've  always  been  a  thoroughbred,  and  I  thought  of 
course  you'd  be  one  to  the  end." 

A  thoroughbred !     The  end !     She  could  make  no  re- 


10  THURLEY  RUXTON 

ply.  She  walked  on  in  silence  at  his  side.  The  shades 
of  evening  enfolded  the  world.  The  city  lights  were 
gleaming  in  their  mundane  firmament.  A  thin,  chill 
stratum  in  the  atmosphere  swept  by  and  almost  made 
her  shiver.  She  felt  strangely  benumbed  and  unreal, 
incapable  for  the  moment  of  accepting  as  her  own  the 
pain  that  had  come  to  her  breast. 

The  little  side  gate  at  the  house  where  Thurley  lived 
was  standing  wide  open  when  at  last  they  came  to  the 
end  of  their  walk  in  the  dusk.  Gaillard  went  in  behind 
her,  as  she  felt  he  would,  and  caught  at  her  hand  when 
they  came  to  the  all-concealing  arbor  in  the  garden. 
It  was  here  he  had  kissed  her  just  a  week  ago. 

"  Good  by,  Thurley,"  he  said.  "  You're  a  thorough- 
bred, all  right.  It's  no  good  to  be  foolish  and  harbor 
ill  feelings,  you'll  admit."  He  drew  her  forward,  in 
his  way  of  ownership,  to  kiss  her  as  before. 

"  No !  "  she  said.  "  No !  "  and  she  pushed  him  off 
in  the  anger  that  was  rising  in  her  nature.  "  No 
more  of  the  college  sort  of  thing  —  not  even  a  college 
good  by." 

She  had  snatched  her  hand  from  his  grasp.  Her 
eyes  took  on  a  look  of  molten  lava.  During  one  scorch- 
ing second  she  studied  his  face  for  a  sign,  overlooked 
in  her  former  trust,  and  beheld  it  on  his  lip  and  on  his 
brow.  Then,  suddenly  turning,  she  left  him  there  and 
swiftly  escaped  to  the  house. 

He  stood  for  a  moment  gazing  toward  the  door,  and 
even  started  to  follow  up  the  path;  but  he  presently 
faced  about  to  the  gate  and  slowly  retreated  down  the 
street. 

The  dream  was  at  an  end.  The  sky  had  taken  on 
a  leaden  gray,  all  the  duller  for  the  now  departed 
glories. 


CHAPTER  III 

A    COLLEGE    WIDOW 

THE  house  where  Thurley  made  her  home  was  a  board- 
ing place  exclusively  for  women.  The  building  itself 
had  once  been  a  fine  dwelling,  in  a  fashionable  quarter 
of  the  town.  The  quarter  had,  however,  long  since 
been  deserted  by  the  more  exclusive  set,  now  gone  to  an 
avenue  of  gold. 

The  property  had  come  by  descent  to  the  ownership 
of  the  Misses  Prue  and  Lavinia  Lagree,  both  spinsters, 
gray  of  hair,  but  of  admirable  disposition,  in  the  care 
of  whom  half  a  dozen  young  women,  including  Thurley 
Ruxton,  had  flourished  in  exceptional  comfort. 

To-night,  as  she  let  herself  in  at  the  door,  Thurley 
crept  to  the  stairs  like  a  robber.  She  could  not  bear 
to  meet  the  various  inmates  of  the  place  and  have  them 
read  her  story  in  her  face.  She  fled  to  her  room  with- 
out a  sound,  slipped  in,  locked  the  door,  and  then  stood 
swaying,  with  her  eyes  tightly  closed,  and  one  hand 
pressed  upon  her  bosom. 

It  was  over  —  all  of  it  —  over  and  gone ;  and  she, 
the  proud,  untouched  by  the  rouge  of  mere  flirtation, 
after  months  of  exceptional  popularity,  with  all  its 
attendant  temptations  —  she,  no  less  than  the  weakest 
of  her  sex,  was  the  merest  college  widow,  after  all! 

A  wave  of  mortification  submerged  her  at  the 
thought.  A  college  widow !  —  another  of  the  wretched, 
abandoned  amusements  with  which  the  town  was  trag- 

11 


12  THURLEY  RUXTON 

ically  populated!  A  college  widow!  The  name  itself 
was  a  ribaldry,  a  scornful  derision  that  would  raise  a 
smile  to  the  lips  of  countless  students  still  to  come, 
who,  in  turn,  would  flirt,  awaken  love,  and  finally  de- 
part, leaving  other  college  widows  in  their  course. 

And  even  yet  it  was  not  her  pride  that  was  wounded 
most ;  not  yet,  despite  .this  outcome  that  she  felt  so  de- 
testably degrading.  Her  love  had  gone  deeper  than  her 
pride,  and  in  this  she  suffered  shame  and  poignant 
anguish. 

She  had  loved  him  so  completely,  so  joyously,  with 
all  her  strong  young  nature!  She  had  loved  him  this 
evening,  out  in  the  sunset  glow,  with  a  new,  sweet  sense 
of  surrender  which  it  seemed  he  must  almost  have  felt 
and  understood.  She  had  loved  him  so  trustfully, 
dreaming  her  dreams,  that  now,  with  revulsions  engulf- 
ing all  her  soul,  she  was  rendered  fairly  faint  with 
changed  emotions. 

She  groped  her  way  to  the  couch  at  last  and  fell  on 
it  in  a  mood  of  anger,  despair,  and  humiliation.  She 
did  not  cry;  she  simply  hid  her  face  and  clenched  both 
her  fists  till  they  ached.  if 

Through  every  stage  of  wounded  love  she  passed,  to 
the  stages  of  anger.  Her  pride  had  undergone  indig- 
nities, and  when  it  came  to  share  in  the  woundings  of 
her  heart  she  was  slowly  making  ready  for  reaction. 

It  came  at  last  as  a  heated  resentment  that  tinged 
every  nerve  of  her  being.  She  was  angry  all  through, 
and  something  superb  was  in  her  indignation.  Never- 
theless, she  did  not  descend  to  the  evening  meal;  but 
lay  for  an  hour  on  the  couch  before  she  felt  she  could 
even  light  the  gas  and  stand  face  to  face  with  her  mir- 
ror. 


13 

When  she  did  rise  she  stood  abruptly,  charged  all  at 
once  with  a  resolution  splendid  in  its  strength.  She 
would  not  succumb !  She  would  not  permit  her  heart  to 
ache  to  breaking!  She  would  not  permit  the  world  to 
know  that  another  college  widow  was  to  let ! 

Galled  in  her  pride  by  Gaillard's  intimation  that  her 
origin  was  not  on  a  par  with  his  own,  smarted  by  a 
realization  that  something  of  his  hint  was  doubtless 
true,  and  stung  by  the  sense  that  as  long  as  she  re- 
mained a  teacher  of  languages  in  this  college  town  she 
would  be  but  a  target  for  futile  admiration  and  passing 
affairs,  she  resolved  that  everything  should  change, 
and  Fate  become  her  slave  and  not  her  master. 

A  thoroughbred !  Yes,  she'd  prove  she  was  a  thor- 
oughbred! No  pain  of  heart  should  lie  upon  her 
sleeve !  No  sallow  cheek,  no  faded  smile,  no  sunken  eye 
or  trembling  lip,  should  advertise  her  plight!  She 
meant  to  laugh,  to  flirt,  to  sing,  and  then,  in  a  week, 
or  maybe  even  less,  go  down  to  New  York,  accept  the 
offer  made  by  Major  Phipps,  and  deliberately  under- 
take the  task  of  forcing  herself  to  the  top. 

She-  knew  not  how  such  a  thing  could  be  achieved; 
she  merely  knew  that  it  had  been  accomplished  by 
others  in  the  past,  and  she  felt  that,  though  a  thousand 
obstacles  should  loom  across  her  path,  she  could  find 
the  strength  in  her  outraged  heart  to  meet  and  sur- 
mount them  all. 

She  lighted  her  gas.  There  on  her  bureau  lay  an  en- 
velope, and  behind  it  stood  a  photograph  of  Gaillard, 
mutely  gazing  on  her  face.  Tempted  for  a  moment  to 
catch  up  the  picture  and  tear  it  into  fragments,  she 
altered  her  mind,  opened  a  drawer,  and  swept  it  in,  face 
downward,  among  a  lot  of  empty  bonbon  boxes,  faded 


14.  THURLEY  RUXTON 

roses,  and  ribbons  which  had  come  with  many  of  his 
favors.  The  envelope  fell  to  the  floor,  and  she  bent  and 
took  it  up. 

For  a  moment  she  glanced  at  it  idly  before  she  tore 
it  apart.  Then  she  knew  what  it  was,  an  invitation, 
wrongly  addressed  and  hence  delayed,  but  sent  three 
days  before  by  Mrs.  Clayton-White,  one  of  New  Ha- 
ven's newest  newly  rich,  to  a  "  Topsyturvy  "  ball  at  her 
home  this  present  night.  The  ball  was  one  to  which 
women  were  privileged  to  invite  male  acquaintances  of 
their  choice. 

Not  only  did  Thurley  decide  on  the  instant  to  attend, 
but  she  also  determined  to  ask  as  her  escort  a  hopeful 
admirer,  good-natured  Harry  Shattuck,  who  alone  of 
Gaillard's  set  had  bested  him  at  fencing  and  at  chess. 
Color  leaped  warmly  to  her  face  at  the  thought  that 
Gaillard  himself  would  almost  certainly  be  at  the  ball. 
She  glanced  at  the  mirror,  gave  a  few  restoring  sweeps 
to  her  hair,  then  ran  to  the  door  and  down  the  stairs 
to  the  'phone  at  the  rear  of  the  hall. 

Shattuck  responded  across  the  wire  in  a  spirit  of 
youthful  exultation.  Not  only  was  he  free  to  go  to 
the  ball,  but  also  he  was  wild  to  attend,  and  would  call 
at  nine  with  his  limousine  car,  and  he  knew  they'd 
have  a  "  ripping  time." 

Half  an  hour  later  Thurley  was  robing  in  her  room, 
with  one  of  the  girls  of  the  house  to  dress  her  hair. 
She  had  swallowed  a  cold,  belafed  dinner ;  but  had  never 
appeared  more  animated  in  her  life.  The  light  in  her 
eyes  was  a  flame  of  warning  fire ;  the  pride  in  the  poise 
of  her  regal  little  head  was  the  natural,  unstudied  out- 
come of  her  newly  completed  resolve. 

She  was  gowned  at  last,  in  a  shimmering  pale-green 


15 

toilet  as  filmy  as  a  gossamer.  It  was  cut  only  slightly 
decollete;  but,  with  the  marvelously  contrasted  color- 
ing of  her  lips,  brows,  eyes,  and  hair,  it  made  a 
startling  combination  of  things  irresistibly  charming. 
Only  a  faint  flush  of  rose  tint  played  in  the  perfect 
oval  of  her  face,  a  color  moving  now  toward  her  tem- 
ples, now  toward  her  chin,  as  if  some  zephyr  wafted 
it  thus  about  as  it  wafts  a  changing  tint  upon  a 
meadow. 

Shattuck  arrived  ahead  of  time,  and  his  car  softly 
purred  at  the  gate.  Then,  when  at  length  it  was  halted 
at  the  Clayton-Whites'  and  Thurley  and  Shattuck 
alighted,  the  one  thing  possible  to  make  her  moment 
triumphantly  complete  actually  had  the  grace  to  occur. 
Gaillard  arrived  with  a  little  Miss  Snow,  driven  in  an 
ordinary  cab ;  and  there  in  the  glare  of  a  white  electric 
arc  a  greeting  was  exchanged  between  the  four. 

The  smile  and  nod  with  which,  apparently  so  far  as 
Thurley  was  concerned,  the  affair  of  the  afternoon  was 
dismissed,  disconcerted  Gaillard  utterly.  Indeed,  the 
last  person  he  had  expected  to  encounter  here  was 
Thurley  Ruxton.  Already  his  evening  was  beginning 
with  a  scowl. 

It  was  Thurley's  hour.  Never  had  any  hour  within 
her  life  been  more  thoroughly  conceded  to  her  queen- 
ship. 

Gaillard,  unable  to  endure  it  longer,  forced  his  way, 
as  if  by  unsurrendered  right,  through  the  group  to  her 
side. 

She  met  his  gaze  and  nodded  brightly. 

"  May  I  ask  for  your  card  ?  "  he  said,  burning  red  to 
his  ears.  "  I  hope  for  a  waltz  —  or  two  —  or  three." 

"  There  isn't  one  —  too  bad !  "  she  said,  smiling  at 


16  THURLEY  RUXTON 

him  gayly.  "  Perhaps  you  could  ask  for  an  extra. 
Ask  Mrs.  White." 

"  I  will,"  he  said. 

He  did,  and  was  granted  his  boon.  Thurley  danced 
with  him  gladly. 

And  something  that  savored  of  divinity  in  motion 
was  generously  bestowed  upon  her.  Something  pos- 
sessed her  to  waltz  in  Gaillard's  arms  as  she  never  had 
waltzed  in  her  life.  She  led  him  to  brinks  of  new  in- 
fatuation, all  to  hide  the  truth  that  for  an  hour  he  had 
crushed  her  like  a  rose  beneath  his  feet.  It  appeared 
to  all  that  nothing  had  been  changed,  as  they  watched 
the  pair  together  on  the  floor. 

Gaillard  himself  was  bewildered,  not  only  by  her 
wonderful  recovery,  but  far  more  than  ever  by  her 
beauty.  Some  mad  impatience  to  snatch  back  his  own- 
ership goaded  his  vanity  anew. 

"  Thurley,"  he  said,  looking  down  in  her  eyes,  "  I 
want  one  more  of  those  waltzes.  I've  got  to  have  two 
or  three  more." 

She  laughed.  "  Doesn't  that  sound  like  little  Oliver 
Twist?  Mustn't  it  be  dreadful  to  want  more  mush, 
school  mush,  or  college  mush,  especially  when  there  isn't 
any  more  left?  " 

He  felt  she  was  laughing  at  him,  treating  his  wishes 
as  a  joke.  "  I  didn't  know  you  were  coming  here  to- 
night," he  said.  "  You  might  have  invited  me." 

"  I  thought  you  might  be  packing  your  trunk,"  she 
answered  innocently.  "  I'm  almost  sure  you  said  you 
were  leaving  to-morrow." 

He  glared  down  at  her  half  angrily.  "  You  don't 
care !  "  he  said. 

"About    what?"    she    answered.     "Dancing?     Oh, 


A  COLLEGE  WIDOW  17 

yes,  I  do  —  and  that  tall,  ungainly  looking  Billy  Link- 
erton  waltzes  like  a  swallow.  You'd  never  believe  it  in 
the  world.  He's  a  bifurcated  poem.  He  glides  like 
a  jellyfish  in  cream.  You'd  as  soon  expect  a  ladder  to 
attempt  a  minuet;  but  he  really  has  a  soul  for 
rhythmic  motion." 

She  could  think  of  nothing  further  to  add  to  all  this 
frippery,  and  Gaillard,  utterly  incapable  of  compre- 
hending her  mood,  and  annoyed  and  piqued,  relapsed 
into  sullenness. 

To  Thurley,  in  the  moment  that  the  waltz  was  ended, 
came  ineffable  relief.  A  dozen  eager  swains  were  pres- 
ently swarming  about  her  as  before,  and  Gaillard  could 
do  nothing  but  retreat. 

Nevertheless,  she  was  faint  at  heart,  now  that  the 
worst  of  it  was  over.  The  dance  with  Gaillard  had 
proved  to  be  an  ordeal  taxing  all  her  powers.  She  was 
weak,  despite  her  air  of  buoyancy,  and  conscious  al- 
ways of  a  deep-lying  hurt. 

By  twelve  o'clock,  when  her  purpose  was  fulfilled, 
the  reaction  came  upon  her.  Beginning  to  be  phys- 
ically exhausted,  she  found  herself  the  ready  prey  of 
all  the  aches  postponed  by  her  artificial  joys.  Her 
game  had  been  played,  her  triumph  was  complete;  but 
she  had  barely  the  strength  to  meet  the  demands  of  her 
most  exacting  role  through  the  process  of  making  her 
escape. 

She  left  with  Shattuck  in  his  waiting  car  and  was 
taken  directly  home.  A  final  sparkle  of  incandescence 
was  conjured  to  her  eyes  in  the  smile  she  gave  him  at 
parting.  Then  at  last  she  was  once  more  alone  in  her 
room,  sadly  requiring  rest. 


CHAPTER  IV 

A    FATEFUL    ENCOUNTER 

WHAT  an  eon  of  time  a  few  heavy  weeks  may  seen, 
when  an  unexpected  crisis  has  inaugurated  a  new  life's 
calendar!  It  was  nearly  five  months  since  that  sunset 
hour  in  which  Thurley  Ruxton's  dream  had  faded  in 
the  sky,  and  even  less  since  she  had  taken  charge  of  the 
work  for  Major  Phipps ;  yet  it  seemed  a  time,  that  ex- 
tended far  back  into  other  ages  of  her  being. 

To-day,  with  fates  and  change  once  more  impending, 
she  felt  —  she  knew  not  what.  She  was  not  precisely 
sick  at  heart,  but  perhaps  merely  overwhelmed  and  ut- 
terly belittled  by  the  size,  the  indifference,  the  cease- 
less heave  and  tumult,  of  gigantic  New  York,  the  city 
that,  having  been  made  by  man,  now  made  and  unmade 
him  in  an  hour.  The  huge  device  of  stone  and  iron  had 
received  her  as  the  sea  receives  a  raindrop.  She  was 
one  of  a  swarm  of  human  beings,  all  blindly  working, 
working,  working,  as  bees  seem  to  work,  —  no  one  in- 
dividual for  himself  alone,  but  each  for  all,  despite  him- 
self, to  gratify  the  law  of  existence. 

It  was  not  to  be  escaped,  comprehended,  or  meas- 
ured, this  unrelenting  enginery  of  life.  There  seemed 
to  be  nothing,  absolutely  nothing,  she  could  do  to  lift 
herself  apart.  She  was  simply  submerged  in  the  hu- 
man tide  which  must  rise  or  fall  with  the  mighty  laws 
that  govern  the  cosmic  scheme. 

18 


A  FATEFUL  ENCOUNTER  19 

She  was  sitting  alone  in  Central  Park,  far  out  on 
its  western  border,  pondering  all  her  former  dreams  of 
rising  to  some  brilliant  eminence,  on  which  to  receive 
the  tribute  of  the  world.  The  day  had  been  cool.  A 
few  drops  of  rain  had  driven  scores  of  park  visitors 
back  to  their  homes. 

Thurley  was  weary  enough,  after  four  miles  of  walk- 
ing, to  be  glad  of  a  rest  on  a  bench.  During  the  first 
exciting  weeks  of  her  metropolitan  adventures  she  had 
sought,  with  conspicuous  success,  to  achieve  an  under- 
standing of  the  ways  to  genuine  usefulness  in  directing 
the  work  that  Major  Phipps  was  so  mightily  toiling  to 
produce.  She  had  likewise  been  confident  of  bounding 
soon  to  splendid* things.  She  had  won  the  Major's  ap- 
proval, his  gratitude  and  trust,  from  the  first  of  her 
employment.  But  she  had  found  herself  uncomfort- 
ably popular  with  all  his  force  of  clerks,  and  then  her 
disillusionment  had  presently  begun. 

The  Major  was  her  loyal  friend,  sincere  and  earnest 
in  his  praise,  and  that  was  all.  She  had  neither  expected 
nor  desired  social  equality  or  opening  of  the  mag- 
ical door  from  the  source  of  this  association.  She  had 
readily  discovered  a  fairly  agreeable  domicile;  her 
wages  were  saving  themselves.  Altogether  it  appeared 
as  if,  after  all,  the  commonplace  Fates  had  assumed  a 
foster  parenthood  to  guard  her  on  a  simple,  modest 
way,  regardless  of  her  dreams.  A  certain  sort  of  util- 
itarian career  seemed,  in  its  sphere,  even  fair  and  prom- 
ising ;  but  then  —  there  was  something  that  constantly 
gnawed  at  her  inmost  heart. 

The  one  brief  effort  she  had  made  to  discover  a 
cousin,  Edith  Steck  by  name,  whom  she  had  vaguely 
known  to  be  somewhere  in  New  York  city,  failed,  and 


20  THURLEY  RUXTON 

had  never  since  been  renewed.  She  had  thought  at  the 
time  that  loneliness  explained  the  sum  total  of  her 
cares.  She  knew  at  last  it  was  not  that  only,  but 
things  that  went  deep  as  life  itself. 

She  had  purposely  avoided  proffered  friendships  of 
the  useless,  unedifying  description,  choosing  to  remain 
aloof  from  anything  save  mere  acknowledgments  of 
acquaintance  with  all  her  fellow  workers  and  the  peo- 
ple of  the  house  where  she  lived.  To-day  she  won- 
dered if  it  had  paid.  She  almost  wished  for  any  sort 
of  friends,  provided  they  were  honest  and  sincere. 

For  fifteen  minutes  she  scarcely  stirred,  sitting  there 
lost  in  meditation.  To  what  would  it  lead,  this  toil  and 
hope,  this  excursion  into  the  maelstrom  of  the  town. 
What  might  anyone,  situated  thus,  achieve  at  last, 
now  that  she  was  launched  upon  the  tide?  A  faint, 
mirthless  smile  crept  slowly  to  her  lips,  freshening  the 
radiance  of  her  beauty.  She  shook  her  head,  as  if  her 
knowing  self  thus  gently  rebuked  the  self  of  groundless 
dreams. 

How  beautiful  was  all  the  scene!  This  was  almost 
enough  to  require,  —  the  bright  green  grass,  with  scat- 
tered leaves  of  vermilion  and  amber  upon  it,  the  gold 
and  garnet  trees,  the  cool,  sweet  air,  saturated  full  of 
essences  autumnal. 

Idly  she  gazed  across  the  park,  then  at  a  squirrel 
frisking  joyously  by.  Thus  her  glance  came  presently 
to  rest  on  a  small,  white  object  lying  on  the  grass, 
just  at  the  end  of  her  bench.  The  object  was  a  hand- 
kerchief, a  dainty  lace  confection,  immaculately  clean, 
folded  in  the  neatest  little  square,  and  marked  with  a 
small,  raised  design.  She  took  it  up.  A  faint,  subtle 
fragrance  was  wafted  to  her  senses.  The  tiny  thing 


A  FATEFUL  ENCOUNTER  21 

was    of    cobweb    frailty.     The    design    was    a    crest, 
wrought  with  exquisite  art  in  the  tissue. 

She  was  holding  it  carelessly,  when  a  muffled  percus- 
sion attracted  her  gaze  down  the  level  roadway  to  a 
shadowed  turn,  some  distance  off  in  the  trees.  There 
a  large  blue  touring  car  was  leisurely  rolling  into  view, 
in  charge  of  a  bareheaded  man,  a  fine  but  bored 
appearing  young  viking,  who  was  driving  about  alone. 

Thurley,  watching,  felt  a  sudden  splash  of  rain 
which  brought  her  to  her  feet  with  quick  decision  to 
move  to  better  shelter;  but  the  shower  broke  almost  in- 
stantly, quite  unheralded,  as  if  it  had  spilled  through  a 
sieve. 

It  was  one  of  those  downpours,  swift  and  violent, 
against  which  an  umbrella  is  practically  no  protection. 
Thurley  raised  her  silken  tent  at  once,  however,  and 
fled  to  the  base  of  a  tree,  still  watching  the  car  in  the 
road. 

The  driver,  she  noted,  was  clean  shaven,  broad  shoul- 
dered, and  ruddy.  He  was  obviously  disturbed  by  the 
drenching  of  a  robe  in  the  rear  of  his  car,  and  cast  a 
quick  look  upward  at  the  sky.  Making  a  momentary 
spurt,  as  if  to  race  and  so  abbreviate  his  discomfort,  or 
concern,  he  abruptly  altered  his  mind,  halting  the  car 
not  fifty  feet  from  the  place  where  Thurley  stood. 
Then,  attempting  to  leap  out  hurriedly,  over  his  levers 
and  the  casing  for  extra  tires,  he  was  tripped  and 
thrown  with  exceptional  violence,  landing  face  down- 
ward in  the  road  with  an  arm  crumpled  awkwardly  be- 
neath him. 

Thurley  uttered  a  little  cry,  to  see  him  plunge  so 
heavily  on  his  under-twisted  hand.  She  moved  a  few 
steps  forward  in  the  rain.  He  scrambled  at  once  to  his 


22  THURLEY  RUXTON 

feet  and  turned,  his  face  tensely  drawn  and  excessively 
white,  his  left  hand  clinging  to  his  limber  right  wrist 
as  he  weakly  reeled  back  against  the  car. 

That  the  man  was  in  agony  was  obvious.  The  elo- 
quence of  pain  was  in  his  poise.  He  could  barely 
stand.  The  rain  beat  down  on  him  savagely. 

Out  across  the  intervening  space  Thurley  ran  with- 
out a  moment's  hesitation.  Her  umbrella  was  raised 
and  rain  was  bouncing  from  its  roof. 

"  You're  hurt ! "  she  said  as  she  came  to  the  car. 
"  Perhaps  there  is  something  I  can  do." 

The  man  had  seen  her  coming.  He  gazed  at  her 
mutely  for  a  moment,  his  lips  compressed  with  pain. 

"  It's  broken,"  he  said,  "  my  wrist." 

Thurley  had  come  sufficiently  close  to  hold  her  um- 
brella above  him.  It  had  all  been  done  in  obedience  to 
something  impulsive  in  her  nature.  The  man  was  suf- 
fering intensely.  She  had  utterly  forgotten  herself. 

"  Tell  me  what  to  do,"  she  said  in  her  earnest  man- 
ner. "I  know  it  pains  you  horribly.  What  shall  I 
do  to  help?  " 

He  tried  to  smile,  then  closed  his  eyes,  leaning 
heavily  against  the  wheel,  a  muscle  twitching  near  his 
mouth.  The  rain  entirely  ceased,  as  abruptly  as  it 
had  come. 

"  I  suppose  I'll  have  to  let  some  one  drive  me  home," 
he  said,  struggling  with  a  quiver  of  pain  in  all  his  be- 
ing ;  "  but  I  hardly  like  to  impose  upon  you,  to  ask 
you  to  look  me  up  a  man." 

"  Couldn't  I  drive  you  to  the  nearest  relief?  "  asked 
Thurley  simply.  "  It  might  take  so  long  to  find 
help." 

He  looked  at  her  curiously.     His  eyes,  despite  his 


A  FATEFUL  ENCOUNTER  23 

hurt,  burned  warmly,  in  tribute  to  her  beauty.  He 
thought  he  had  never  in  his  life  beheld  a  face  so  nearly 
divine.  And  indeed,  as  Thurley  stood  there  by  his  car, 
unconsciously  sublimated  by  her  sympathy,  she  pre- 
sented a  vision  that  for  sheer  sweet  loveliness  could 
scarcely  have  been  matched  in  all  the  world. 

"You  —  drive?"  he  said,  with  no  attempt  to  con- 
ceal an  astonished  incredulity.  "  Do  you  mean  that 
you  could  really  take  the  wheel?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  if  you  need  me,  need  my  help,"  she  an- 
swered readily.  "  It  can't  be  very  far,  I'm  sure,  to  a 
place  where  —  where  of  course  you  will  do  much  bet- 
ter." She  hesitated,  looking  at  him  gravely,  adding, 
"  I  couldn't  do  less.  I  knew  you  were  hurt.  I 
couldn't  stand  by  and  do  nothing." 

"  You  are  very  kind,"  he  said,  looking  at  her  oddly, 
as  before.  "  I  hope  you  will  pardon  my  wretched 
limpness.  I'll  probably  feel  much  better  sitting 
down." 

"  Shall  I  help  you  to  get  in  the  car?  "  she  inquired. 
"  Perhaps  you'd  better  lean  on  my  arm." 

"  No  —  no  —  I'm  all  right  —  quite  all  right  —  if 
you'll  just  get  in,"  he  replied,  and  weakly  he  followed 
where  she  passed  round  in  front  of  the  car  to  mount 
the  unobstructed  side. 

"  If  you'll  tell  me  where  to  go,"  she  said,  as  she  took 
her  place,  with  the  wheel  in  hand,  and  speeded  up  the 
motor,  "  I'll  do  my  best  to —  " 

"  Down  through  the  park  to  Columbus  Circle,"  he 
interrupted,  sinking  limply  in  his  seat.  "  Kindly  over- 
look my  impatience." 

She  dropped  back  the  brake,  with  her  foot  on  the 
clutch,  set  the  speed  control  at  the  first,  and  the  car 


24  THURLEY  RUXTON 

glided  smoothly  up  the  road.  Half  a  minute  later  she 
had  shifted  to  direct,  and  her  passenger  nodded  his 
approval. 

He  continued  to  cling  to  his  wrist.  The  pain  had 
surged  entirely  through  his  system,  down  as  far  as  his 
knees.  It  had  sickened  and  rendered  him  utterly  nerve- 
less ;  nevertheless,  as  he  looked  on  her  face,  he  was 
strangely  abstracted  from  his  suffering. 

A  sudden  outburst  of  sunlight  was  poured  down  on 
her  at  a  parting  of  the  clouds,  and  the  gold  of  it  made 
her  a  goddess.  She  had  dropped  the  dainty  lace  hand- 
kerchief down  beside  his  foot ;  but  neither  of  them  knew 
it  was  there. 

Round  a  narrow  curve  she  swung  the  car  —  and  the 
man  beside  her  started,  uttered  a  smothered  note  of 
apprehension,  and  rigidly  froze  in  his  seat. 

Bearing  down  on  them,  in  criminal  madness  of  speed, 
two  huge  red  cars,  with  hoods  abreast,  were  racing  like 
motion-crazy  demons. 

They  practically  occupied  the  road,  and  to  it  they 
clung,  each  of  the  drivers  stubbornly  determined  that 
the  other  must  slack  and  give  off  to  the  side  to  let  the 
blue  touring  car  pass. 

Thurley  was  out  at  the  middle  of  the  road.  There 
was  neither  time  nor  opportunity  to  shift  her  position. 
The  two  wild  comets  charging  lawlessly  upon  her  were 
scarcely  more  than  four  feet  apart,  from  wheel  to 
wheel. 

A  momentary  indecision,  a  gasp  of  helpless  fright, 
and  she  and  her  passenger,  car  and  all,  would  be  hope- 
lessly in  collision  with  one  or  the  other  of  the  fools  in 
the  road,  where  death  might  claim  them  all. 

The  man   at   her  side  was    out  of  it  —  absolutely. 


A  FATEFUL  ENCOUNTER  25 

Cold  sweat  broke  out  on  his  forehead,  so  imminent  did 
disaster  appear.  Even  had  he  held  the  wheel  himself, 
he  could  scarcely  have  known  what  to  do. 

It  happened  in  the  briefest  fraction  of  a  minute. 
Thurley  stayed  with  the  middle  of  the  thoroughfare, 
driving  as  true  as  a  die  for  the  space  between  the  on- 
rushing  monsters.  It  was  far  too  narrow  to  let  her 
through  when  she  headed  for  the  gap.  She  could  only 
hope  to  wedge  it  wider. 

For  a  terrible  second  everything  seemed  hopeless. 
The  wreckage  of  all  three  cars  seemed  inescapable  as 
the  coughing  minotaurs  hurtled  upon  her  position. 
The  swerve  of  an  inch,  a  second's  unsteadiness,  the 
slightest  panic  at  the  steering  post,  and  the  crash  would 
startle  the  air. 

She  was  almost  upon  the  race-tied  pair  when  they 
gave  to  the  nerve  she  was  displaying.  Even  then  they 
relinquished  but  a  trifle  apiece  —  and  between  the  two, 
as  they  racketed  by,  she  passed  with  a  hand's  width  to 
spare. 

"  The  fools ! "  cried  the  man  who  rode  at  Thurley's 
side.  Then  he  sank  even  deeper  into  his  seat,  from 
sheer  relief  to  all  his  throbbing  nerves,  plus  the  pain 
unrelenting  in  his  wrist.  "  That  was  superb !  " 

A  wave  of  color  passed  lightly  across  Thurley's 
cheek.  She  began  to  realize  the  strangeness  of  the 
situation,  now  that  the  threatened  climax  to  the  ride 
had  sped  away  to  the  rear. 

"You  are  going  to  a  doctor  first,  I  suppose?"  she 
said,  as  she  glanced  about  for  a  possible  policeman  and 
gave  the  car  a  perceptible  touch  of  speed.  "  Your 
hand  must  pain  you  dreadfully." 

"I  —  we're  going  —  we'll  see  —  "  he  answered  unde- 


26  THURLEY  RUXTON 

cidedly.  After  a  moment  he  added,  "  Perhaps  I  can 
manage  to  present  my  card,"  and  he  started  as  if  to 
grope  in  a  pocket  with  his  uninjured  hand. 

"  Please  don't !  "  she  begged.  She  cast  him  a  quick, 
inquiring  glance.  "Is  it  necessary?"  Up  to  now 
there  had  been  for  her  no  element  of  personality  in  all 
the  encounter. 

He  tried  to  smile  again,  despite  his  pain.  "  Is  any- 
thing necessary  —  anything  that  you  or  I  did?" 

For  a  moment  she  did  not  answer.  Then  she  said, 
"  Well  —  it  happened.  Here  we  are." 

"  Yes,  it  happened.  Perhaps  you'd  rather  I'd  not 
introduce  myself  or  inquire  who  you  are?  " 

She  colored.  Someway,  she  did  not  care  to  confess 
that  she  was  Thurley  Ruxton,  ex-teacher  of  French  and 
German  in  a  college  town,  and  at  present  amanuensis 
for  a  reminiscent  Major  of  the  army.  She  someway 
felt  that,  for  the  moment  at  least,  she  occupied  a  sphere 
far  different.  And  she  had  come  to  New  York  to 
escape  the  past,  and  escape  her  very  self.  Moreover, 
the  touch  of  mystery  the  moment  afforded,  like  a  cloak 
in  which  to  wrap  herself,  appealed  to  her  sense  of  humor 
and  the  fitness  of  the  situation.  She  flashed  him  a  sun- 
lit glance. 

"  Your  wrist  is  the  only  thing  that  counts." 

He  continued  to  study  her  face,  to  marvel  at  her 
beauty,  her  poise,  her  mastery  over  the  car.  "  At 
least  I'd  know  whom  to  thank,"  he  said.  "  That  would 
gratify  me  greatly." 

Her  eyes  were  on  the  road  ahead.  They  were 
lustrous  with  excitement  and  her  natural  animation. 
"  Why  attempt  it,  especially  as  I'd  rather  you 
wouldn't  ?  "  she  replied. 


27 

"  My  impulse  prompts  a  sense  of  obligation,  just  as 
your  impulse  prompted  —  this." 

Her  face  became  more  grave,  with  sudden  realization 
of  what  she  had  done.  "  But  you  were  seriously  hurt 
—  you  were  helpless.  I  hope  I  was  not  inexcusably 
bold." 

"  Oh,  please !  "  he  pleaded.  "  Please  be  more  kind 
to  a  pure,  uncalculating  spirit  of  humanism,  if  not  to 
me.  It  was  my  wrist  that  was  impaired,  not  my 
discernment." 

Thurley  made  no  immediate  reply.  Apparently  all 
her  faculties  were  focused  on  the  car.  They  rode  for 
a  time  in  silence. 

"  What  a  splendid  team  —  those  horses !  "  she  pres- 
ently exclaimed,  partly  to  relieve  a  situation  that 
she  felt  was  becoming  hard  to  sustain.  "  They're 
beauties !  " 

The  team  in  question  was  approaching  in  the  road, 
far  ahead.  They  were  glossy  bays,  each  with  white 
feet  that  rose  and  fell  in  perfect  unison  to  the  tinkle 
and  ringing  of  the  silver  equipment  on  the  harness. 
They  were  driven  to  a  landau  of  dark  maroon,  with 
coachman  and  footman  in  white,  maroon,  and  black. 
On  the  cushions,  alone  and  discontented,  sat  a  woman 
well  toward  thirty-five,  in  the  costliest  of  furs,  and 
infinitely  bored  with  all  the  world. 

The  man  at  Thurley's  side  glanced  quickly  from  her 
face  to  the  carriage  they  were  about  to  encounter. 
"  Oh  —  I  wonder  if  you'd  mind  stopping,"  he  asked 
her  hurriedly,  "  just  for  half  a  moment?  " 

Thurley  immediately  threw  out  the  clutch  and  applied 
the  brake. 

The  woman  in  the  landau  had  not  only  seen  them 


28  THURLEY  RUXTON 

approaching  and  recognized  the  owner  of  the  car,  but 
was  gracefully  waving  him  to  halt.  Her  carriage 
rolled  up  beside  the  big  machine. 

"  Well,  Robley  Stuyverant ! "  she  said,  as  he  raised 
his  cap.  "  I  see  you  are  in  town  after  all  —  perhaps 
prepared  to  give  me  a  few  more  trifling  disappoint- 
ments." 

She  was  a  beautiful  woman,  in  a  somewhat  artificial 
manner,  despite  a  certain  smallness  of  her  features. 

The  man  in  the  car  attempted  to  smile.  He  was 
still  very  white.  "  Really,  Alice  —  Mrs.  Van  Kirk," 
he  said,  "  I  ought  to  be  ashamed.  I  am  —  indeed  I 
am.  I  thoroughly  intended  to  come  last  Friday  even- 
ing, and  I  counted  on  to-night;  but  just  a  little  bit 
ago  —  " 

"  Robley,"  interrupted  Mrs.  Van  Kirk,  meantime 
gazing  in  rapt  admiration  on  Thurley  at  the  wheel, 
"  I  really  cannot  consent  to  another  excuse  this  even- 
ing!" 

"  I've  broken  my  wrist,"  he  told  her  simply.  "  If  it 
weren't  for  the  kindness  of  —  "  He  turned  to  Thur- 
ley. "  Mrs.  Van  Kirk,  permit  me  to  present  my  de- 
liverer, Miss  —  Miss  Samaritan."  He  purposely  mum- 
bled the  "  Samaritan,"  in  order  to  conceal  his  natural 
confusion. 

Thurley  and  Mrs.  Van  Kirk  exchanged  a  conven- 
tional murmur. 

"  Broken  your  wrist ! "  said  the  latter  in  genuine 
sympathy,  but  studying  Thurley  with  penetrative  eyes. 
"  Dear  me !  That  is  simply  ghastly !  I  thought  you 
looked  a  bit  peaked.  Why,  Robley,  this  is  serious ! 
I'm  tremendously  sorry.  Isn't  there  something  I  can 
do?  If  you'd  rather  I  should  drive  you  home  — " 


29 

"Thanks,  no,"  he  interrupted  blandly.  "But  I 
trust  my  excuse  is  valid  for  to-night." 

Mrs.  Van  Kirk  hardly  heard  what  he  said,  so  intent 
was  her  inspection  of  the  girl  at  Stuyverant's  side. 
Never  in  her  life,  she  felt,  had  she  seen  a  young  woman 
more  beautiful,  more  abounding  in  possibilities,  more 
desirable  as  an  asset  —  a  magnet  for  a  lifeless  drawing 
room.  She  was  busily  wondering  who  and  what  she 
could  be,  what  relationship  she  bore  to  Stuyverant,  and 
where  he  could  possibly  have  found  her.  The  party 
of  the  evening  had  slipped  from  her  mind  for  the  mo- 
ment. 

"Your  excuse?"  she  echoed.  "Valid?  Indeed  it 
is !  My  poor  dear  boy,  it's  cruel  of  me  to  keep  you 
here  waiting  like  this !  But  at  least  you'll  come  to  see 
me?  You  don't  walk  on  your  wrist.  Both  of  you 
come  —  do  —  come  soon !  You'll  be  out  of  it,  Robley, 
driving  your  car,  riding  —  everything.  Do  come  and 
let  me  supply  a  little  pleasure.  Good  by.  I'll  expect 
you  soon." 

She  nodded  and  smiled  at  Thurley  quite  as  much  as 
at  Robley  Stuyverant.  Then  once  again  her  landau 
rolled  along  to  the  jingling  of  silver  on  the  trappings. 
The  car  with  Thurley  at  the  wheel  proceeded  on  its 
way. 


CHAPTER  V 

TEMPTATION  AND  A  CREST 

STUYVERANT  did  not  speak  at  once,  and  Thurley  was 
busy  with  her  task.  A  few  more  carriages  and  several 
cars,  enticed  thus  quickly  to  the  park  by  promise  of  the 
sun,  were  met  and  passed.  Still  clinging  to  his  broken 
wrist,  the  man  with  Thurley  watched  her  intently,  more 
and  more  engrossed  by  her  beauty. 

"  You  saw  my  embarrassment  —  my  predicament," 
he  said  at  length,  referring  to  the  'recent  introduction. 
"  Now  that  you  are  acquainted  with  mine,  don't  you 
think  I  ought  at  least  to  know  your  name?  " 

"  We  are  almost  there  —  Columbus  Circle,"  she  an- 
swered, nodding  toward  the  slender,  graceful  monument, 
visible  now  beyond  the  trees.  "  In  a  moment  you  will 
have  a  better  driver.  After  that  — "  She  left  the 
sentence  incomplete. 

"  After  that  ? "  he  repeated.  "  You  will  certainly 
let  me  see  you  again,  if  only  to  thank  you,  to  —  " 

She  glanced  at  him  brightly.  "  Oh,  but  you  have 
thanked  me  already  quite  sufficiently.  Where  shall  I 
drive  you  now?  "  / 

He  suddenly  felt  that  he  could  not  permit  her  to  go 
so  soon  —  behold  her  vanish  as  strangely  as  she  had 
arrived,  leaving  him  nothing  save  the  memory  of  a 
singularly  delightful  encounter. 

"  If  you  do  not  mind,  perhaps  I'd  be  wiser  to  go 
30 


31 

home  at  once,"  he  told  her  tentatively.  "  If  it  takes 
you  too  far  from  your  own  destination,  the  car  is  en- 
tirely at  your  service." 

She  flushed  with  pleasure  at  the  thought  of  prolong- 
ing the  joy  already  experienced,  not  only  with  the  car, 
but  also  with  its  owner.  She  felt  herself  greatly 
tempted.  It  almost  seemed  as  if  the  Fates  had  be- 
stowed this  opportunity  upon  her,  this  opening  into  the 
wondrous  world  whose  gates  she  was  eagerly  seeking. 

It  might  be  so  easy  to  push  a  little  forward  here, 
avail  herself  of  this  man's  acquaintance,  attempt  to 
meet  and  cultivate  Mrs.  Van  Kirk,  and  forge  toward  the 
gilded  social  goal !  But  she  dared  not  assume  the  risk. 
They  would  find  her  out;  she  could  not  play  the  role; 
it  was  not  the  path  by  which  she  had  hoped  to  succeed. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  she  was  unprepared  for  the  develop- 
ments the  Fates  had  brought  about,  and  could  follow 
her  instinct  only. 

But  to  take  this  injured  fellow  being  home  —  that, 
at  least,  was  barely  human.  She  asked  him  quietly: 

"Where  do  you  live?  On  the  farther  side  of  the 
park?  " 

"  Fifth  Avenue,"  he  answered,  and  told  her  the  num- 
ber and  corner  of  the  street.  "Is  it  an  imposition?" 
he  added.  "  Because  of  course  —  " 

"  I'll  drive  you  there,"  she  interrupted.  "  I  hope 
there's  a  doctor  near  by." 

"  And  then  you'll  let  me  send  you  home,  of  course?  " 

She  flushed  to  the  tips  of  her  ears.  Permit  him  thus 
to  discover  the  poor  old  tawdry  place  that  was  all  she 
could  call  her  home?  She  would  rather  have  walked  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth!  She  gave  him  the  briefest  of 
glances. 


32  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  I  shall  ask  you  to  have  me  returned  to  the  park,  to 
the  place  where  you  found  me,  if  you  please." 

"Oh,  but  —  " 

"  Is  it  very  much  to  ask?  " 

"  It's  nothing,  nothing,  less  than  nothing ;  but  I 
hoped  —  I  rather  wished  —  "  It  occurred  to  him  sud- 
denly that  she  might  have  alighted  from  a  car  or  car- 
riage of  her  own,  to  sit  for  a  time  in  the  park.  She 
might  be  missed  by  those  who  had  left  her  with  the 
squirrels  —  perhaps  some  man  —  perhaps  some  princely 
husband !  He  wondered  why  he  thought  of  a  Prince  — 
and  glanced  at  her  wedding  finger,  only  to  find  her  hand 
was  gloved. 

"  I  wish  to  do  anything  to  please  you,  to  restore  you 
to  your  previous  enjoyment  of  the  day,"  he  told  her 
honestly.  "  Are  you  sure  that  is  all  I  may  do?  " 

"  Quite  sure." 

They  were  gliding  swiftly  through  Fifty-ninth 
Street.  They  came  to  the  Plaza,  with  its  huge  hotels, 
its  dull  gold  equestrian  statue  of  Sherman,  and  its  tide 
of  carriages  and  automobiles  going  into  and  out  of  the 
park. 

Thurley  turned  the  corner,  entered  Fifth  Avenue, 
steered  out  round  one  of  the  huge  green  autobusses, 
and  continued  northward  on  her  way.  Stuyverant, 
more  worried  by  the  thought  of  presently  losing  the 
thrill  of  her  presence  at  his  side  than  he  was  by  his 
swollen  wrist,  could  think  of  nothing  to  say  or  to  do 
that  would  penetrate  the  mystery  of  her  personality. 
He  had  never  felt  so  baffled  or  so  eager  in  his  life.  He 
cudgeled  his  wits  for  a  means  for  attaining  his  desire, 
to  know  her  and  exact  a  promise  she  would  permit  him 
to  see  her  soon  again;  but  all  in  vain.  The  impend- 


TEMPTATION  AND  A  CREST  S3 

ing  termination  of  their  ride  seemed  rather  to  confuse 
than  to  clear  his  senses. 

"  It  does  seem  as  if  you  might  let  me  thank  you,  see 
you  and  thank  you  properly,  when  I'm  more  like 
myself,"  he  suggested  at  last,  as  Thurley  observed  they 
had  only  another  block  to  travel.  "  In  your  own  words, 
is  that  so  much  for  me  to  ask?  " 

"  This  is  your  street,"  said  Thurley,  once  more  color- 
ing. "  Up  town  or  down  town  corner?  " 

"  Up  town,"  said  Stuyverant  reluctantly,  and  the 
car  was  brought  to  a  halt  beside  the  curb. 

He  alighted,  experiencing  a  new  attack  of  weakness 
and  pain  from  his  hurt.  For  the  first  time  he  noted  the 
dainty  bit  of  handkerchief  lying  at  Thurley's  feet. 
Then  she  too  stepped  out  to  the  curb,  to  turn  at  once 
to  the  tonneau,  open  its  door,  and  seat  herself  therein. 

"  I  hope  you  will  get  immediate  relief,"  she  said. 
"  Please  do  not  delay  any  longer." 

He  fancied  that  some  sense  of  embarrassment,  to- 
gether with  impatience  to  return  to  her  friends  in  the 
park,  was  revealed  by  the  look  in  her  eyes.  "  I'll  send 
someone  at  once,"  he  answered,  loath  to  lose  her  from 
his  sight.  "  I  trust  we're  not  saying  good  by." 

Thurley  too  regretted  the  passing  of  the  hour  — 
her  one  golden  hour  in  many  months.  She  smiled. 
"  Shall  it  be  auf  -unederselien?  " 

His  left  hand,  supporting  his  broken  wrist,  aban- 
doned its  charge  for  a  moment.  He  raised  his  cap, 
enduring  great  pain  in  the  effort.  "  Auf  wiedersehen; 
for  we  shall  meet  again,"  he  said.  "  I  believe  in  fate." 

"  Oh,  your  wrist !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  Please  hurry 
with  your  wrist." 

He  nodded,  and  smiled,  whitely,  once  more  support- 


34  THURJLEY  RUXTON 

* 

ing  his  arm  in  his  hand;  then  up  the  steps  he  ascended 
as  the  door  abruptly  opened  and  a  servant  in  livery 
appeared. 

Thurley  watched  him  till  he  turned  in  the  vestibule 
and  smiled  again,  wanly.  Then  the  servant  shut  his 
stoic  suffering  from  sight. 

Barely  five  minutes  later  another  servitor  appeared. 
Saluting  Thurley  with  a  semimilitary  gesture,  he  first 
surreptitiously  secured  and  pocketed  the  tiny  lace 
handkerchief  lying  near  the  wheelpost  of  the  car,  — 
all  by  special  order,  —  then  assumed  the  seat  so  re- 
cently occupied  by  Thurley  herself  and  headed  at  once 
for  the  park. 

In  the  briefest  seeming  time  they  had  come  to  the 
spot  where  Stuyverant's  accident  occurred.  Here  the 
man  halted  the  auto  and  alighted  to  open  the  door. 

"  You  are  quite  certain,  Miss,  I  may  not  drive  you 
elsewhere  —  may  not  be  of  further  service?  " 

"  Quite  certain,  thank  you,"  answered  Thurley, 
already  experiencing  a  certain  sensation  of  loneliness 
and  depression,  thus  to  face  once  more  the  desolation 
of  her  life,  and  she  stepped  from  the  car  with  a  regal 
grace  that  made  the  man  salute  her  as  before. 

He  hesitated  uncertainly  for  a  moment;  then,  in 
strict  obedience  to  instructions,  once  more  resumed  his 
seat  and  drove  away. 

Thurley  sat  down.  She  had  nothing  else  to  do,  save 
to  wonder  at  what  had  transpired.  Once  again  the 
clouds  obscured  the  sun,  the  gold  and  vermilion  of  the 
foliage  dulled,  and  the  lights  burned  lower  in  her  eyes. 
She  rose  at  last  to  walk  from  the  park  to  the  elevated 
road,  for  a  train  that  would  carry  her  home. 

Meantime,  Stuyverant,  racked  with  pain  as  his  sur- 


TEMPTATION  AND  A  CREST  35 

geon  set  the  broken  bone  in  place,  was  all  impatience 
for  his  man's  return  with  the  car.  That  worthy  arrived 
with  commendable  promptness  and  sent  up  the  filmy  bit 
of  lace  he  felt  he  had  shamefully  stolen. 

No  sooner  was  the  injured  man  alone  than  he  shook 
out  the  faintly  perfumed  gossamer  and  eagerly  scanned 
the  tiny  mark  embroidered  in  one  of  its  corners. 

A  sense  of  joy  and  a  sense  akin  to  hopelessness  arose 
in  his  being  together.  "  A  crest ! "  he  murmured 
excitedly.  "  I  knew  it !  I  felt  it  in  the  air !  " 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  GODS  OF  CHANGE 

THE  one  particularly  fateful  element  in  Thurley's 
unique  adventure  in  the  park  was  not  entirely  the  effect 
produced  upon  young  Stuyverant ;  it  was  quite  as  much 
the  meeting  with  Alice  Van  Kirk. 

In  addition  to  being  the  niece  of  Major  John  Phipps, 
she  was  one  of  the  wealthiest,  uneasiest,  and  most 
original  women  in  all  New  York.  She  was  likewise  one 
of  the  cleverest  and  shrewdest  in  gaining  her  ends. 
Married,  thirty-five,  domiciled  in  a  modern  Fifth  Ave- 
nue palace,  and  consumed  by  social  ambitions  never  yet 
wholly  gratified,  she  presented  a  study  in  restless  enter- 
prise not  to  be  lightly  ignored. 

For  one  brief  season  she  had  flashed  so  brilliantly  on 
the  rainbow  peaks  of  social  eminence  as  to  dazzle  the 
most  blase.  Scores  of  the  moths  that  flit  to  the  blind- 
ing glare  of  gold  had  molted  their  wings  to  remain 
within  the  circle.  Then  had  come  envy,  successful 
rivalry,  a  species  of  defeat  for  her,  and  retirement  from 
the  center  of  the  stage.  For  two  seasons  she  had 
sought  in  vain  for  the  magical  wand  that  would  place 
again  within  her  grasp  the  queenship  she  felt  essential 
to  existence. 

Van  Kirk,  who  detested  the  "  social  cyclone,"  was 
away  to  the  north,  scouring  Canada,  gun  in  hand,  in- 
tent upon  moose.  His  wife,  with  the  season  once  more 
opening  for  lions  and  conquests  in  Gotham,  had  for 

36 


THE  GODS  OF  CHANGE  37 

weeks  been  ready  for  anything  socially  desperate,  and 
had  felt  herself  helplessly  baffled. 

A  hundred  times  she  had  conned  the  old  devices  em- 
ployed in  all  her  set,  and  a  hundred  times  had  flung 
them  out  as  worthless  for  her  needs.  She  was  amply 
aware  that  nothing  short  of  something  new  and  resist- 
lessly  magnetic,  something  gleamingly  startling,  could 
avail  to  establish  her  anew. 

To-day  in  the  park  the  germ  of  a  thought  had  sunk 
to  the  tropics  of  her  brain,  there  to  sprout  with  prodig- 
ious celerity  and  expand  a  luxuriant  foliage.  The 
germ  had  been  planted  by  the  sight  of  Thurley  Ruxton, 
driving  Stuyverant's  car.  With  such  a  girl  as  that  to 
exploit,  what  ends  might  she  not  achieve? 

Who  in  the  world  could  the  girl  have  been,  and  where 
had  Robley  found  her?  That  any  young  woman  so 
brilliantly,  unartificially  beautiful,  and  able,  moreover, 
to  drive  a  car,  could  have  entered  the  social  constella- 
tion without  her  knowledge  was  to  Alice  Van  Kirk 
a  positive  sting.  She  felt  humiliated,  excluded,  reflect- 
ing that  the  Stuyverants  and  others  of  their  circle  had, 
as  it  were,  kept  her  from  knowledge  that  this  exquisite 
girl  had  dawned  upon  their  world. 

Arrived  at  her  home,  she  took  no  time  for  removal 
of  furs  or  gloves,  in  her  haste  to  employ  the  'phone. 
She  called  up  the  Stuyverant  residence,  and  soon  had 
Robley  on  the  wire. 

"  My  poor  dear  boy,"  she  purred  in  the  mouthpiece 
sympathetically,  "  I  am  positively  worried  about  your 
wrist!  You've  had  it  treated,  of  course?" 

"  Right  as  a  trivet,"  answered  Stuyverant  cheerfully. 
"  Good  of  you  to  call  me  up,  I'm  sure.  And,  by  the 
way,  Alice  —  " 


38  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  Robley,  who  is  she,  you  lucky  animal  ?  "  inter- 
rupted the  woman  impatiently.  "  You  know  in  your 
pain  you  merely  mumbled  her  name." 

"  No,  not  in  pain ;  in  desperation,"  he  confessed,  him- 
self no  less  eager  than  Alice  to  discover  Thurley's  iden- 
tity and  devise  some  chance  to  meet  her  without  delay. 
"  I'm  glad  you  called  me  up.  You  may  be  the  one 
being  on  earth  who  can  help  me  to  find  out  who  she  is 
and  where  I  may  encounter  her  again." 

"  Robley ! "  said  his  sympathetic  friend.  "  You 
don't  mean  to  astonish  this  incredulous  wire  with  the 
assertion  that  you  don't  know  who  she  is?  Why,  my 
boy  —  but  where  —  " 

"  Hark  en,"  he  admonished.  "You're  aware  that 
Princess  Thirvinia  is  here  in  America  incog?  " 

"  I  am,  of  course ;  but  —  " 

"  It  may  not  be  she.  I'm  half  hopeful,  half  afraid, 
it  is.  She  was  all  alone  in  the  park  when  I  had  my 
fall.  She  came  to  my  aid  with  all  the  simplicity  and 
courage  of  royalty.  I  felt  the  indefinable  air  of  some- 
thing regal  about  her  from  the  start.  She  would  not 
reveal  the  first  little  hint  of  who  she  was,  and  insisted 
on  being  taken  back  where  I  had  found  her,  by  my 
man." 

"  Why  Robley  Stuy  —  " 

"  That  isn't  all.  She  dropped  a  little  handkerchief 
in  the  car.  I  —  I've  got  it  now.  Alice,  the  corner  is 
marked  with  a  crest !  Now  —  " 

"How  could  it  be  Princess  Thirvinia?  Of  course 
she'd  speak  English  perfectly;  but  her  servants,  her 
retinue,  her  equipage,  and  all?  " 

"When  we  know  she's  here  incognito?"  he  an- 
swered. "  How  could  she  move  about  in  the  guise  of  a 


THE  GODS  OF  CHANGE  39 

plain  American  woman  if  retinues  and  royal  coaches 
tagged  her  all  through  the  park?  I  can't  be  sure;  but 
if  you  had  really  seen  her  and  read  the  descriptions  of 
the  Princess  —  " 

"  Good  gracious !  I  never  thought  of  that !  Do 
you  fancy  any  woman  would  have  overlooked  her  won- 
derful eyes  and  brows,  that  gold  of  her  hair,  that  color  ? 
Robley  —  " 

"  Alice,"  he  interrupted,  "  there  isn't  a  single  being 
in  the  world  with  your  cleverness  to  help  me  find  her 
out.  Don't  you  see  that  I've  got  to  find  her  now?  A 
man  can't  have  the  luck  to  break  his  wrist  like  that  but 
once  in  a  lifetime.  How  will  you  manage  to  find  her?  " 

"  Heavens !  "  answered  Alice  laughingly.  "  Exactly 
as  I'd  pounce  upon  any  needle  in  a  haystack !  I'm  dis- 
appointed in  you,  Robley,  to  be  candid.  You've  been 
stupid,  really,  to  permit  her  to  escape  like  this." 

"  By  George !     If  I  hadn't  been  wounded  —  " 

"  You  wouldn't  have  found  her  at  all." 

"  Of  course ;  but  —  " 

"  And  you  mean  to  say  that  when  you  were  hurt  she 
came  running  to  your  assistance,  alone?" 

"  In  the  pouring  rain,  with  all  her  skysails  —  her 
umbrella  —  set.  I  never  felt  so  weak  in  my  life.  The 
pain  went  straight  down  to  my  heels.  She  said  I 
needed  help  —  I  did.  She  said  she  could  drive  —  and 
she  drove.  There  never  was  anything  quite  so  superb 
in  the  world  as  the  way  she  drove  the  car  between  —  " 

"  You've  got  to  come  over  to  see  me ! "  Alice  inter- 
rupted. "  Come  to-morrow,  sure.  I  can  understand 
that  with  your  broken  wrist  you  need  even  such  poor 
assistance  as  mine.  I  am  really  quite  distressed  about 
your  hand." 


40  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  Distressed !  "  he  echoed  over  the  wire.  "  Great 
roaring  ghosts  !  What  a  rank  affront  to  luck !  I'll  be 
over  in  the  afternoon  to-morrow;  and  please  be  pre- 
pared with  a  little  first  aid  to  the  —  " 

"  Second  aid  —  second-handed  aid,"  she  interrupted. 
"  Now  go  and  rest.  Good  by." 

She  hung  up  the  instrument,  and  the  period,  after- 
ward known  as  her  "  three-day-fever,"  had  begun.  It 
might  with  propriety  have  been  termed  an  exasperation 
on  her  part  and  a  desperation  on  the  part  of  Robley 
Stuyverant.  Both  made  prodigious  but  futile  efforts 
to  rediscover  Thurley,  and  the  mystery  of  who  and 
what  and  where  she  was  assumed  new  depth  with  every 
hour. 

Meantime,  Thurley  was  plunged  once  more  into  the 
hopelessly  commonplace  affairs  of  daily  labor  and 
boarding  house  existence,  her  dream  of  an  hour  already 
receding  from  her  grasp  over  the  ever  present  planes 
of  stern  reality. 

There  were  moments  of  almost  savage  regret  in  her 
thoughts  as  she  faced  her  grind,  the  barren  outlook  of 
day  succeeding  day,  and  the  mockery  of  social  splendor 
and  achievement  to  be  glimpsed  and  comprehended 
from  afar.  Some  vague,  insistent  sophistry  of  her 
more  unthinking  self  argued  repeatedly  that  had  she 
only  maneuvered  more  adroitly,  played  the  cards  sup- 
plied her  by  that  fickle  visitor  Opportunity  more 
shrewdly,  she  might  already  be  scheduled  for  some  ro- 
mantic escape  from  the  yoke  she  must  otherwise  bear. 

She  was  not  deceived.  She  was  certain  in  her  heart 
of  hearts  that  she  had  done  the  only  possible  thing  in 
refusing  her  name  to  Robley  Stuyverant  and  retreating 
from  his  ken  unknown.  And  yet,  to  be  snatched  from 


THE  GODS  OF  CHANGE  41 

it  all  so  soon,  to  be  obliged  to  realize  her  own  remote- 
ness from  the  only  sphere  her  nature  craved,  was 
galling. 

She  had  anger  with  her  fate.  There  were  moments 
when,  in  her  indignation  at  the  slights  put  upon  her  by 
Acton  Gaillard  in  the  spring,  she  felt  entitled  to  revenge 
on  all  his  kind  —  entitled  to  injure  all  creatures  of  his 
ilk  by  the  powers  and  arts  and  baits  of  love  that  had 
swept  her  own  happiness  away.  For  she  had  suffered 
much,  during  all  this  time  alone  in  merciless  Manhattan, 
with  recurrent  dreams  of  the  might-have-beens  and  in 
contemplation  of  the  ruins  of  castles  one  time  built  of 
the  stuff  of  summer  clouds. 

There  was  never  a  moment,  however,  when  she 
seriously  thought  of  arranging  even  a  second  accidental 
meeting  with  the  man  with  the  broken  wrist.  She  had 
taken  no  time  to  consider  his  personality;  and  he,  aside 
from  his  natural  sense  of  gratitude  for  the  little  she 
had  done,  had  been  too  much  in  pain,  she  was  sure,  to 
observe  her  with  attention.  Yet  she  tugged  at  her 
fetters  —  and  assailed  the  Major's  work  as  if  it  had 
been  a  foe. 

Wednesday  afternoon  the  tantalizing  Fates  took 
another  unexpected  step,  and  Thurley,  unaware,  was 
confronting  the  gate  in  the  wall,  the  gate  to  the  modern 
Eden.  The  Major  it  was  who  prodded  the  gods  of 
Change,  with  no  such  intention  in  his  mind. 

He  had  been  to  the  stronghold  of  a  publisher  who  the 
day  before  had  received  the  first  half  of  the  volume  on 
which  he  was  working.  He  came  to  Alice  Van  Kirk's 
like  a  boy,  unable  to  compass  his  delight.  He  had  come 
to  the  gorgeous,  empty  house  to  dine,  ostensibly.  His 
appetite,  however,  was  for  talk. 


42  THURLEY  RUXTON 

Alice  was  alone,  except  for  the  presence  of  the  four- 
teen servants  in  the  house,  and  she  had  never  in  her 
life  been  more  heartily  glad  to  give  him  welcome. 

"  By  Pollux !  My  dear,"  he  said  as  he  kissed  her 
with  genuine  warmth  of  affection,  "  I've  never  been  so 
happy  since  Antietam!  Never!  The  book  is  a  hit 
with  my  publishers,  —  bullseye,  straight  and  clean,  — 
and  the  title  changed  to  *  Personal  Recollections  of 
Seventeen  Engagements  in  the  Civil  War ! '  I'm  the 
luckiest  old  curmudgeon  in  the  country!  I  am,  by 
George!  Unbelievable  luck!  All  that  young  woman's 
doing  —  order  out  of  chaos  —  my  raw  recruits  of  fact 
in  line  all  ready  for  dress  parade  or  charge  —  recol- 
lections all  wheeled  into  battalions  like  magic  —  the 
second  half  is  practically  finished.  As  an  author  I  feel 
I  begin  to  auth  —  with  that  young  woman's  assistance ! 
I  had  to  run  right  up  and  tell  you." 

"  You  are  very  kind,"  said  Alice  calmly.  "  It's  a 
pity  the  pattern  of  your  young  woman  paragon  had 
not  been  more  generously  employed.  If  only  they  were 
made  beautiful,  regal,  and  discoverable  more  often,  the 
rest  of  us  might  almost  approximate  a  toleration  of 
existence." 

"  Pessimism,  my  dear,  pessimism !  "  answered  the  Ma- 
jor heartily.  "  The  world  is  full  of  beautiful  women. 
This  exotic  of  mine  —  exotic,  that's  the  proper  de- 
scription —  is  extraordinary.  She  is,  by  Pollux. 
Gifted,  alert,  sensible  —  too  sensible  to  know  how  abso- 
lutely beautiful  she  is,  even  with  all  my  force  so  dead 
in  love  with  her  they  work  like  the  bees  about  their 
queen !  She's  the  finest  product  of  the  feminine  gender 
I've  seen  outside  of  —  outside  of  this  room,  by  Pollux." 

"Admirable  retreat,  with  guns   intact,"  commented 


THE  GODS  OF  CHANGE  43 

Alice  dryly.     "  Is  she  blond  or  brunette?     I've  forgot- 
ten which  you  preferred  a  month  ago." 

"  There  you  are,  by  George !  "  replied  the  Ma j  or 
triumphantly.  "  She's  neither  —  both  —  well,  golden 
hair,  I  admit  —  real,  you  know  —  real  —  magnificent 

—  no  bleach,  by  Pollux !  none  —  and  the  darkest  brows 

—  no  penciling,  I'll  swear  it  at  the  cannon's  mouth ! 

—  and  eyes  as  brown  as  a  seal.     No  chance  to  paint  or 
peroxid   eyes,   you'll   admit  —  you're   bound  to   admit. 
And  there  you  are !     I've  a  notion  to  write  another  book 
to  keep  her  near.     Beautiful !     My  dear,  if  I  were  only 
young  —  " 

"  Cease  firing,"  she  interrupted  with  awakening  in- 
terest. "Are  you  sure  of  what  you  are  describing? 
Remember,  this  is  not  the  eighteenth  engagement  in  the 
Civil  War,  and  I  want  the  facts.  Do  you  repeat  blond 
hair,  brown  eyes,  and  brows  nearly  black,  her  complex- 
ion rose  and  white?  " 

"  I  hadn't  come  to  her  complexion ;  but,  by  George ! 
it  is — it  is;  roses  —  that's  it  —  roses,  white  ones 
and  red.  How  in  the  world  I  ever  got  her  to  come  — " 

"  Exactly,"  his  niece  interrupted.  "  Where  and  how 
did  you  get  her?  Who  is  the  girl?  It's  the  one  you 
have  mentioned  before?  " 

The  Major  sat  down.  "  Repeatedly.  Told  you 
about  her  way  last  June.  Mentioned  her  frequently 
at  Newport  —  always  with  enthusiasm  too  —  maybe 
with  ardor  —  probably  with  ardor.  Tell  you  all  I 
know  about  her  —  wonderful  young  woman !  " 

With  commendable  optimism  and  some  perspicacity 
of  statement  he  proceeded  at  once  to  enlighten  his  niece 
as  fully  as  his  information  permitted  as  to  who  and 
what  Miss  Thurley  Ruxton  was  and  of  how  he  had  come 


44  THTJRLEY  RUXTON 

to  employ  her.  He  made  scant  mention  of  the  apparent 
relationship  she  had  enjoyed  with  Acton  Gaillard;  but 
admitted  he  had  met  her  frequently  in  Gaillard's  com- 
pany —  had  accepted  her  socially,  in  fact,  on  Gaillard's 
indorsement  —  and  had  asked  her  nothing  at  all  con- 
cerning her  antecedents,  having  always  been  far  more 
interested  in  the  phases  of  her  cleverness,  her  beauty, 
and  her  remarkable  popularity. 

Alice   listened   to    all   his    recital   with    an   interest 
peculiarly  intent.      "  Why  don't  you  bring  her  up  and 
let  me  see  the  girl?  "  she  presently  demanded.     "  But 
no,  on  the  whole,  I  think  I  shall  call  at  your  office,  to- 
morrow afternoon." 

A    servant    appeared    and    announced    the    dinner 
served. 


CHAPTER  VII 

A  CINDERELLA  PROPOSITION 

WHEN  Thurley,  complying  with  the  Major's  request, 
stepped  briskly  into  his  "  army  headquarters  "  to  find 
herself  confronted  by  the  tall,  gray-eyed  woman  from 
the  palace  on  Fifth  Avenue,  she  was  merely  a  trifle 
surprised. 

There  was  no  recognition  in  the  fleeting  glance  with 
which  she  met  the  scrutiny  that  Alice  bent  upon  her. 

"  Ah,  here  we  are,  by  Pollux,  yes! "  said  the  Major 
in  his  mildest  artillery  utterance.  "  Alice  —  er,  permit 
me  to  present  Miss  Thurley  Ruxton.  Yes!  Miss 
Ruxton,  my  niece,  Mrs.  Van  Kirk  —  interested  — 
wished  to  meet  you  —  have  a  little  chat.  I'll  leave  you 
here  together." 

He  disappeared  and  closed  the  door  as  Thurley 
turned  to  gaze  inquiringly  at  the  visitor,  whose  name 
she  would  never  forget. 

Alice  met  her  astonished  look  with  an  arch  and 
radiant  smile.  Not  only  had  she  instantly  recognized 
the  girl  who  had  driven  Stuyverant's  car,  but  also  with 
equal  promptness  had  her  mind  conceived  an  extraor- 
dinary plan.  "  Miss  Ruxton,"  she  said,  advancing 
with  outstretched  hand,  "  I  am  exceedingly  glad  to 
meet  you  —  again.  You  hardly  knew  me  for  a  mo- 
ment." 

Thurley  took  the  proffered  hand  almost  mechanically. 

45 


46  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

She  flushed  with  color  which  instantly  heightened  her 
beauty  as  she  wondered  what  the  meeting  might  imply. 
"I  —  I  remember  now,"  she  faltered,  perhaps  a  trifle 
embarrassed  by  the  thought  of  thus  being  discovered, 
revealed  in  her  real  capacity  and  personality.  "  Our 
meeting  before  was  —  " 

"  Quite  informal,"  Alice  interrupted ;  "  but  altogether 
delightful,  nevertheless  —  that  is,  for  me.  Frankly, 
Miss  Ruxton,  I've  been  hoping  to  find  you  ever  since. 
Won't  you  sit  down  —  for  a  little  friendly  talk  ?  " 

Thurley  followed  to  the  corner  where  the  older 
woman  led ;  but  was  halted  in  the  act  of  turning  a  chair 
about  to  face  her  visitor. 

"  Sit  here  on  the  davenport  with  me,"  said  Alice  en- 
gagingly. "  I  might  as  well  tell  you  that  I  like  you, 
at  once,  and  have  it  over.  I've  really  come  back  to 
make  a  proposition." 

Thurley  smiled,  she  hardly  knew  why.  Her  cus- 
tomary ease  of  manner  returned  with  the  smile  as  she 
took  the  seat  denoted. 

"  I  am  not  in  the  least  a  literary  person,  if  it's  any- 
thing more  on  books."  She  knew  intuitively  it  was  not 
concerning  books  that  Alice  Van  Kirk  had  appeared. 
Vaguely  she  wondered  what  this  woman  of  the  world 
imagined  concerning  herself  and  Robley  Stuyverant,  — 
she  a  mere  amanuensis,  he  the  probable  scion  of  an  old 
and  wealthy  family,  and  the  pair  of  them  seen  in  his 
automobile,  returning  from  —  who  might  say  where? 
An  aspect  of  dread,  the  dread  of  being  possibly  misun- 
derstood, assailed  her  unexpectedly.  It  had  never  even 
occurred  to  her  mind  before. 

"  Oh,  books !  '*  said  Alice  with  an  eloquent  gesture  of 
deprecation.  "  Do  I  look  like  that  in  the  least?  " 


A  CINDERELLA  PROPOSITION  47 

Thurley  smiled.  "  That  sort  of  genius  sometimes 
runs  in  families." 

"  Infests  them,  you  mean,  my  dear;  but  the  Major  is 
only  my  uncle.  Let's  be  perfectly  candid,  you  and  I. 
First,  I  may  as  well  confess  I  know  all  about  your  meet- 
ing with  Robley  Stuyverant  last  Saturday  afternoon. 
He  told  me,  of  course.  He  doesn't  know  who  you  are 
in  the  least,  thanks  to  your  innate  ladyhood.  I  can 
also  readily  understand  that  you  hardly  wish  him  to 
discover." 

Thurley  flushed  anew.  "  Not  because  of  any- 
thing —  " 

"  Dear  child,  can't  you  trust  me  to  understand? 
And  no  less  than  yourself  I  prefer  he  should  not 
know." 

Thurley  was  thoroughly  puzzled.  Her  natural  won- 
der was  what  Robley  Stuyverant  could  possibly  be  to 
Alice  Van  Kirk,  and  why  she  should  come  here  to-day. 
She  could  only  echo,  "  You  prefer  he  should  not  know?  " 

"  Exactly.  Now  comes  my  proposition.  I  want  you 
to  come  to  my  house  —  live  with  me  —  become  my  pro- 
tegee —  and  meet  him  and  all  my  friends  on  a  social 
equality  —  immediately  —  at  least  by  the  end  of  the 
week." 

Thurley  could  scarcely  credit  her  senses.  "  But  — 
Mrs.  Van  Kirk  —  " 

"  I  know  you  don't  understand  it,  of  course,  nat- 
urally, —  why  I  should  wish  it,  what  possible  advan- 
tage I  hope  to  derive  from  such  an  arrangement,  —  but 
I  told  you  I  meant  to  be  frank."  She  paused  to  lean 
forward  and  take  the  girl's  soft  hand  in  her  own.  "  I 
need  you  very  much  indeed,  and  I  rather  hope  you  need 
me.  Before  you  say  anything  at  all,  I  wish  to  assure 


48  THURLEY  RUXTON 

you  there  will  be  no  dubious  conditions,  no  string  to 
the  offer  I  am  making.  Candidly,  I  require  a  magnet, 
such  a  magnet  as  all  the  gold  in  the  world  may  never 
be,  —  a  living,  radiant  magnet,  to  brighten  my  home, 
to  draw  success  and  interest  about  me,  —  such  a  mag- 
net as  you,  my  dear,  would  supply.  I  shall  wish  to 
treat  you  precisely  as  I  might  a  younger  sister,  just 
come  out,  and  would  exact  only  a  promise  that,  no 
matter  what  might  be  conjectured  as  to  whence  you 
came,  you  divulge  nothing  to  the  world,  —  assert  noth- 
ing, deny  nothing,  —  and  agree  not  to  marry,  or  to 
promise  yourself  in  marriage,  for  at  least  a  year  from 
our  association." 

More  and  more  Thurley's  bewilderment  increased. 
"  But  I  can't  in  the  least  understand  your  motive,"  she 
confessed.  "  What  could  I  possibly  do  that  would 
repay  you  for  your  venture  ?  " 

"Dear  child,  you  can  wear  gorgeous  jewels,  furs, 
and  gowns  like  a  Princess.  You  can  go  with  me  every- 
where, help  me  entertain,  fill  my  hollow  house  with  the 
people  I  wish  to  attract,  give  me  the  things  I  most 
desire  —  and  better  your  fortunes  by  the  process." 

Thurley  shook  her  head  gravely.  "  I  don't  see  why 
you  think  so,  Mrs.  Van  Kirk.  I  have  never  had  that 
sort  of  education." 

"  But  you  have  always  been  popular?  " 

"  A  little  —  with  the  college  boys,  I  suppose.  I 
hoped  so  —  thought  so,  once." 

"  I  was  certain  of  that  from  the  first,"  said  Alice 
decisively.  "  My  dear,  that  is  all  I  desire." 

Thurley  looked  at  her  quickly,  a  light  of  girlish  in- 
quiry burning  in  her  eyes.  "  Do  you  mean  you  would 
wish  me  to  —  attract  a  lot  of  men?  " 


A  CINDERELLA  PROPOSITION  49 

"  Men,  of  course,  men  and  women  of  the  social  set 
that  once  paid  me  tribute  slavishly,  and  now  —  well, 
things  are  different  now.  I  am  no  longer  novel,  I  sup- 
pose. Perhaps  I  am  too  respectable.  But  you  could 
help  me  bring  them  back  —  oh,  all  of  it  nicely,  my  dear, 
nothing  dubious.  I  said  before,  and  I  repeat,  I  wish 
you  to  occupy  just  such  a  place  as  I'd  give  to  a  younger 
sister  of  whom  I  could  always  be  proud  and  fond. 
Doesn't  that  clear  away  your  doubts?  Heavens!  I 
hadn't  the  slightest  thought  that  I  might  be  misunder- 
stood!" 

Thurley  burned  a  warmer  color.  "  But  —  you  can 
see  how  strange  it  seems  to  me?  " 

"  Why,  yes,  child,  I  see  it  perfectly.  That's  why 
I'm  going  to  ask  you  to  think  it  over  first.  I  asked 
the  Major  to  bring  you  home  to  dine  with  me  to-night ; 
but  perhaps  you'd  rather  go  in  the  car  with  me.  Only 
he  might  tell  you  all  about  me  —  as  he  told  me  a  little 
of  you.  I  want  you  to  know  there  is  nothing  sinister 
behind  my  offer,  nothing  you  may  not  accept  with 
pride  and  honor.  There  are  elements  of  business  in  it, 
of  course;  for  I  expect  you  to  make  my  existence  much 
more  happy,  as  I  should  hope  to  make  yours  more 
bright  and  promising.  That's  all.  I  am  dying 
to  make  the  fairylike  transformation  on  a  girl  al- 
ready lovely  —  and  surely  you  are  not  without  am- 
bition ! " 

Thurley  smiled.  "  It  is  a  fairy  story,  isn't  it  — 
the  way  it  comes,  and  all  ?  It  sounds  —  too  good  for 

—  New  York  city,  shall  I  say  ?     And  coming  like  this 

—  to  me  —  " 

"  Fate,  my  dear,  believe  me.  How,  otherwise,  should 
you  happen  to  be  sitting  in  the  park  when  Robley 


50  THURLEY  RUXTON 

Stujverant   comes   along   and  breaks   his   big,   strong 
wrist?  " 

Thurley  colored  an  exquisite  tint.  "  I  hope  his 
wrist  is  better  —  I  mean  —  it  was  really  terrible." 

Alice  arched  her  brows.  "  He  called  the  incident  a 
*  favor  of  the  gods.'  He  is  nearly  insane  to  meet  his 
Princess  again." 

The  red  fairly  surged  to  Thurley's  cheeks  at  this, 
and  down  all  her  ivory  neck.  "  You  —  he  —  I'd  be 
expected  to  meet  him,  as  you  said?  " 

"  Naturally.  His  enthusiasm,  I  confess,  incubated 
my  resolve  to  find  you  if  I  could.  But  don't  forget 
what  I  named  as  my  conditions.  I  couldn't  permit  you 
to  engage  yourself  for  a  year,  not  even  to  Robley,  af- 
ter all  that  romantic  meeting.  You  see,  I  am  very 
scheming,  after  all." 

"Oh!" 

Alice  rose.  "  Will  you  come  to-night  with  the  Ma- 
jor, or  with  me?  " 

Thurley's  excitement  returned.  "  Did  I  promise  to 
come?  " 

"  To  look  us  over,  certainly.  Wear  anything  you 
like,  my  dear.  We  three  shall  be  alone."  She  held  out 
her  hand  as  before,  and  smiled  with  a  charm  of  her  own 
that  Thurley  knew  was  honest.  "  You  can  think 
things  over  rapidly,  from  all  I  learn  of  your  character. 
Perhaps  you  can  give  me  your  answer  to-night." 

Thurley's  smile  was  a  trifle  timid.     "  Perhaps." 

The  older  woman  quietly  took  her  other  hand. 
There  was  something  wistful  in  the  look  she  bestowed 
on  the  eyes  so  deeply  brown.  "  If  you  make  up  your 
mind  to  come,  you'll  call  me  Alice?  " 

"  If  I  come." 


A  CINDERELLA  PROPOSITION  51 

Alice  gave  added  pressure  to  her  hands.  "  I  think 
you'll  be  a  little  more  comfortable  if  you  come  with  the 
Major,"  she  concluded.  "We'll  consider  that  ar- 
ranged. Till  then,  my  dear,  good  by." 

"  Good  by,"  said  Thurley,  and  followed  to  the  door. 

Alice  turned  and  kissed  her  suddenly.  "  There !  I 
simply  couldn't  help  it !  "  she  laughed,  her  own  face 
flushing  girlishly.  "  I  know  we  are  going  to  be 
friends." 

Then  she  went,  and  Thurley  stood  there  marveling, 
a  thrill  subtly  creeping  to  her  heart. 


WANTED,    A    DISCOVEEY 

THE  transformation  was  complete,  the  most  absolute, 
magical  transformation  one  could  possibly  imagine. 
And  still  Thurley  hardly  believed  it  had  come  for  more 
than  one  midnight  hour.  It  seemed  impossible  for  such 
a  dream  to  assume  substantiality.  Its  vanishment,  like 
Cinderella's  coach  and  steeds,  would  have  seemed  the 
natural  incident  when  twelve  solemn  strokes  should 
sound  from  some  darkened  tower. 

That  first  exciting  dinner  with  Alice  and  the  Major 
was  already  two  days  old,  its  impression  embossed  on 
Thurley's  malleable  mind  as  a  bas-relief  uplifted  from 
her  former  plane  of  existence.  But  to-night  —  this 
first  real  occupancy  of  her  wondrous  cocoon  from 
which  she  was  destined  to  emerge  into  new  and  startling 
loveliness  —  this  was  too  magical  for  credence ! 

Alice  herself  had  brought  her  to  the  suite  of  rooms 
henceforth  to  be  sacred  to  her  uses.  Alice  herself  had 
appointed  two  smart,  deferential  maids  to  attend  her 
slightest  needs.  Her  old  world  had  slunk  away  like 
smoky  fog,  —  old  labors,  old  apartments,  old  gowns, 
and  hats  and  shoes.  There  was  nothing  left  to  suggest 
her  past  attachments,  save  two  or  three  trinkets  of  gold 
and  her  mother's  diamond  ring. 

She  stood  at  last  alone  with  her  thoughts,  robed  in 
a  faintly  shimmering  gossamer  of  night  apparel,  de- 
lightedly regarding  her  "  home."  Her  maids  had  pre- 
59 


WANTED,  A  DISCOVERY  53 

pared  her  for  retirement  and  left  her  in  possession, 
mistress  of  her  warmly  glowing  kingdom. 

Yet  she  dared  not  and  could  not  experience  a  sense 
of  ownership  either  in  the  walls  and  furnishings  or  in 
all  the  dainty  finery,  exquisite  gowns,  the  costly  furs 
and  sparkling  gems,  already  secured  and  bestowed 
upon  her  as  the  "  mere  first  requisites  of  her  wardrobe," 
new  purchases  which  Alice  had  assured  her  were  soon 
to  be  supplemented  properly,  when  modistes,  tailors, 
and  others  of  their  ilk  should  have  time  to  prepare 
things  to  order. 

A  feeling  of  strangeness  pervaded  the  thrills  she  un- 
derwent as  she  once  more  explored  her  gilded  bower  by 
herself.  From  the  splendid  spaciousness  and  delicate 
perfections  of  her  drawing  room,  through  her  lofty 
blue  and  gold  chamber  and  her  wholly  enchanting 
dressing  room,  to  the  fairy  grotto  of  a  bath  and  back, 
she  moved  with  the  lingering  appreciation  of  a  Princess 
who,  after  long  banishment,  is  once  more  restored  to 
her  own.  She  opened  the  wardrobes  one  by  one  and 
gazed  at  their  treasures  in  joy.  The  jewels  that 
gleamed  from  her  golden  casket  were  reflected  bril- 
liantly in  the  rapture  of  her  eyes. 

All  her  old  dreams  of  the  conquest  of  Manhattan  had 
contained  no  such  element  as  this.  It  had  faded  like 
a  tawdry  thing  in  the  light  of  this  dazzling  reality. 
All  the  old  resentments  felt  against  Acton  Gaillard  and 
his  sort,  together  with  desire  for  swift  retaliation,  had 
gone  with  the  grimy  fog  of  former  days.  Exultation 
and  pure  girlish  ecstasy,  with  love  of  all  the  lovelier 
phases  of  existence,  possessed  and  thrilled  her  being. 
It  was  hers,  this  world  of  beauty. 

Perhaps  for  an  hour  she  moved  about  the  place,  now 


54  THURLEY  RUXTON 

sitting  in  a  thronelike  chair,  now  merely  standing  in 
the  center  of  a  room  to  contemplate  its  charms.  At 
last  she  pushed  a  button  in  the  paneled  wall,  and  the 
soft  rose  lights  of  her  fairyland  faded  in  their  crystal 
spheres. 

A  mellowed  twilight  crept  through  the  windows 
westward,  where  they  overlooked  Fifth  Avenue.  She 
went  there  happily,  and  by  habit  ran  up  the  shades. 
Below,  the  pavement  dully  reflected  the  scattered  lights 
widely  dotting  out  the  long  perspective.  A  hansom 
went  by,  the  horse's  hoofs  musically  clop-clopping  as 
he  trotted  briskly  toward  the  Plaza. 

Across  the  way  loomed  the  wall  and  the  half-de- 
nuded trees  of  Central  Park.  Here  and  there  a  star- 
like  lamp  glowed  steadily  between  dark  masses  of  foli- 
age, increasing  the  sense  of  peace.  The  sky  was  clear, 
and  the  constellations  swung  brilliantly  across  the 
firmament,  lustrous  with  cosmic  magnificence. 

But  Thurley's  eyes  beheld  again  a  man  falling  for- 
ward in  the  rain.  She  saw  him  presently  seated  by  her 
side,  and  the  pulse  of  a  mighty  motor  shook  her  being. 
She  wondered  —  and  she  wondered.  At  last,  with  a 
sigh  of  new-found  rapture,  she  returned  to  the  wholly 
intoxicating  •  luxury  of  her  couch.  What  a  pity  it 
seemed  to  waste  a  moment  of  a  world  so  marvelous  in 
sleep's  effacing  oblivion ! 

Yet  when  she  awakened  by  the  morning  light,  the 
wonder  was  fresher  than  before.  She  had  barely  en- 
tered the  hallway  of  miracles  to  which,  in  the  way  of 
her  kind,  she  would  presently  grow  amazingly  accus- 
tomed. 

Nevertheless,  for  the  two  or  three  days  next  succeed- 
ing her  emotions  of  bewilderment  increased.  Neither 


WANTED,  A  DISCOVERY  55 

her  mind  nor  her  nature  could  grasp  the  full  signifi- 
cance of  Alice  Van  Kirk's  prodigious  wealth.  She 
could  not  behold  the  prodigality  of  spending  upon  her- 
self and  avoid  feeling  staggered  and  appalled. 

Alice  induced  her  gently,  with  skill  and  finesse  of  the 
utmost  art,  toward  the  nonchalance,  poise,  and  deport- 
ment of  those  long  accustomed  to  the  favors  of  the 
gods.  Her  pupil  was  apt  and  pliant.  Her  natural 
grace,  plus  her  exceptional  powers  of  observation  and 
intuition,  rendered  Thurley  instantly  amenable  to  the 
slightest  desires  and  pressures  of  the  woman  now  mold- 
ing her  anew. 

That  certain  regal  essence  of  her  being,  naturally 
inherent,  flowered  in  exquisite  charm.  Graciousness 
claimed  her  for  its  own.  Her  beauty  was  heightened 
and  refined.  Over  coachmen  and  footmen  who  were  as- 
signed with  her  own  particular  carriages  to  her  needs 
she  assumed  a  monarchical  proprietorship  that  de- 
lighted their  very  souls. 

By  every  possible  device  of  modesty  and  retirement, 
Alice  conducted  this  schooling  of  her  Princess,  as  it 
were,  behind  the  scenes.  Not  even  Robley  Stuyverant 
was  aware  of  his  abetter's  find.  He  had  fretted, 
stormed,  implored  the  Fates  and  Alice,  and  run  amuck 
through  drawing  rooms  and  the  first  of  the  season's 
functions,  without,  of  course,  so  much  as  encountering 
a  single  person  who  had  ever  seen  or  heard  of  the  girl 
he  sought. 

Meantime,  rumors  that  a  Princess  of  extraordinary 
beauty,  wealth  and  cleverness  was  actually  adrift,  in- 
cognito, in  America,  had  been  credited  with  truth,  de- 
spite the  fact  that  all  eager  swelldom  had  vainly  sought 
to  find  her  out  from  somewhat  vague  descriptions. 


56  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

She  was  said  to  be  blond  and  brunette  together,  head- 
strong, entirely  cosmopolitan,  weary  of  Europe,  in- 
clined toward  an  American  alliance,  and  the  promised 
guest  of  some  woman  once  met  abroad. 

To  Alice  Van  Kirk  these  stories  came,  and  met  ex- 
ceptionally cordial  hospitality.  Such  excitement  as 
her  nature  and  spirit  permitted  increased  in  her  being 
every  hour.  At  the  end  of  a  week  of  Thurley's  tuition 
the  well-known  Van  Kirk  impatience  chafed,  no  longer, 
however,  at  the  mere  delay  in  presenting  of  her  pro- 
tegee, but  instead  at  her  own  fastidiousness  of  choice 
in  means  whereby  to  promote  the  impending  discovery 
to  best  advantage. 

The  Horse  Show  was  a  week  away,  the  opera  nearly 
two.  Before  the  former  and  the  Metropolitan  opening, 
Thurley  should  already  be  heralded  or  much  valued 
time  would  be  lost.  A  veritable  triumph  at  Madison 
Square  was  the  premiere  of  Alice's  demands  of  the  sit- 
uation, such  power  would  the  victory  bestow. 

She  dared  not  jeopardize  a  structure  built  upon  the 
frailty  of  this  new  experiment  by  undue  haste,  unwis- 
dom, or  self-started  claims  concerning  Thurley.  The 
cleverness  of  her  intentions  was  worthy  of  her  well- 
known  ingenuity  and  clarity  of  vision.  Hence  the 
worry  that  possessed  her  day  and  night  as  she  pum- 
meled  her  wits  to  meet  the  crucial  moment  and  event  of 
launching  Thurley  forth  upon  a  social  startled  world 
that  would  think  it  instantly  pierced  her  identity  for  it- 
self. 

She  thought  and  planned  till  she  was  nearly  ill.  In 
vain !  Some  hazy  scheme  of  inviting  Robley  Stuy- 
verant  to  a  motor  ride  in  the  park  and  picking  Thur- 
ley up  at  the  spot  where  the  young  man's  wrist  had 


WANTED,  A  DISCOVERY  57 

been  broken,  was  the  nearest  approach  she  could  possi- 
bly invent  by  way  of  something  "  accidental."  It  met 
her  requirements  in  romanticism,  even  perhaps  too  well. 
It  lacked,  however,  in  its  powers  for  publicity.  She 
dismissed  it  with  the  rest. 

Saturday  morning  arrived, 'a  day  more  brilliant  than 
the  sunniest  hour  of  the  day  when  Robley  broke  his 
wrist.  Alice  awoke  in  a  fever,  induced  by  tossing  in 
sleeplessness  as  she  thought  of  the  problem  she  must 
meet. 

There  was  no  further  time  to  be  lost  —  and  nothing 
had  come  to  her  assistance.  Then  Thurley,  plus  her 
helpful  fate,  brought  it  all  to  crystallization  —  un- 
guessed  by  Alice  at  the  time. 

"  Oh,  Alice,"  she  said  at  breakfast,  "  what  a  gor- 
geous day!  Couldn't  we  order  the  horses  for  a  gallop 
in  the  park?  " 

Alice  avidly  welcomed  the  suggestion.  "  Why,  yes, 
by  all  means,  Thurley,  order  yours  for  this  afternoon. 
I  ride  like  a  cat  on  skates,  you  know;  but  I'd  rather 
you  went  than  not." 

"  Oh !  "  said  Thurley.  "  I  hoped  we  might  go  to- 
gether." 

Alice  smiled  at  her  archly.  "  Even  though  you 
might  perchance  meet  a  motorist,  disabled  and  forlorn? 
Fiddlesticks !  Order  your  horse  for  three,  and  James 
to  trail  behind." 


CHAPTER  IX 

REVELATIONS    IN    A    RUNAWAY 

MORE  furiously  than  ever  before  had  James  trailed  that 
afternoon.  Never  had  a  day  been  finer,  the  assem- 
blage of  carriages  and  riders  in  the  park  more  brilliant, 
or  Thurley  more  alive  with  the  effervescence  of  youth 
and  the  fire  of  joy. 

Her  horse,  a  superb  Arabian,  glossy  as  the  sun  itself, 
and  darkly  red  as  the  richest  autumn  foliage,  was  ig- 
nited by  her  spirit.  He  pranced,  cavorted,  arched  his 
neck,  in  pride  of  the  dainty  mistress  on  his  back,  and 
ached  for  a  chance  to  let  out  his  powers  for  once  and 
prove  himself  worthy  of  her  love. 

Already  she  loved  him  in  a  riotous  mood  that  ex- 
tended to  the  ruddy  world  in  its  regal  splendors  of  color. 
Not  since  a  day  in  the  faraway  spring  had  she  been 
thus  enthroned  in  a  saddle.  Her  spirit  vaulted  tem- 
pestuously, ahead  of  the  galloping  steed.  She  gloried 
in  the  rush  and  motion,  the  exhilarating  air  with  its 
touch  of  frost  hurled  upon  her  by  her  cleaving  through 
to  new-found  avenues  of  pleasure. 

She  rode  like  a  splendid  young  valkyr,  welded  by 
skill  and  sheer  abandon  into  wondrous  unity  with  the 
animal  excited  and  delighted  by  her  weight.  It  was 
only  wild  riding  in  the  sense  of  its  utter  freedom, 
beauty,  and  spontaneity.  It  was  rhythm  and  spirit 
and  courage,  exemplified  in  her  absolute  confidence  and 
passion  for  living  and  motion. 

She  dashed  through  one  of  the  bridle  paths  that  par- 

58 


REVELATIONS  IN  A  RUNAWAY          59 

allel  a  drive,  like  a  vision  of  velocity  and  beauty. 
From  a  hundred  glinting  carriages,  flinging  back  the 
sun  rays  from  varnish,  silver,  and  burnished  animals,  a 
wondering  procession  of  wealth's  spoiled  darlings  paid 
her  the  tribute  of  their  stares,  their  gasps,  curiosity, 
and  admiration,  —  some  for  the  marvel  of  her  coloring 
and  grace,  the  proud,  handsome  face,  exquisitely  regal, 
some  for  such  horsemanship  as  the  park  had  rarely 
seen,  and  some  for  her  daring  and  apparent  reckless- 
ness, —  the  men  and  women  drifting  by  on  the  tide  of 
luxury  and  ease  were  magnetized  despite  themselves, 
while  Thurley  was  completely  unaware. 

She  raced  from  their  sight  like  a  fragment  from  an 
epic  of  rapture.  Her  joy  in  her  Amazonion  liberty 
and  flight  was  a  thing  to  be  felt  by  all  who  saw,  so 
potent  were  its  radiant  emanations.  Round  the  bend, 
with  James  in  desperation  spurring  at  the  rear,  she  en- 
countered a  party  of  equestrians,  men  and  women, 
posting  along  like  a  dozen  conventional  automatons 
invented  for  mechanical  riding.  With  one  accord  they 
turned  to  watch  her  pass.  Beyond  them  she  ap- 
proached and  overtook  three  women,  riding  in  a  group. 

The  farther  she  rode  the  sweeter  grew  the  breath 
that  swept  from  the  autumn  perfumed  trees  and  the 
wilder  became  the  answer  of  her  spirit.  It  seemed  like 
a  ride  through  amber,  gold,  and  flame.  Every  vista 
looming  ahead  in  her  path  seemed  a  red-lit  glow  of  wel- 
come. Then  the  way  once  more  drew  in  abreast  a 
drive,  where  again  the  pageantry  of  wealth  rolled  lan- 
guorously by. 

Broughams,  coupes,  glinting  automobiles,  hansoms, 
barouches,  and  children's  phaetons,  decorously  winding 
the  highways  of  indulgence,  and  flinging  off  their  lar- 


60  THURLEY  RUXTON 

gess  of  light  from  a  thousand  flashing  spokes,  moved 
in  two  opposing  streams.  Again,  as  before,  the  homage 
of  their  seldom-stirred  attention  was  paid  to  Thurley, 
romping  past.  A  hundred  scions  of  the  house  of  ease 
inquired  who  she  was. 

Then,  from  one  of  the  carriages,  occupied  solely  by 
one  old  woman  and  a  broad,  athletic  young  man,  came 
a  note  of  surprise  and  gladness  which  started  as  if  to 
become  a  shout  and  ended  much  suppressed.  The 
eager  young  man  half  rose  in  his  seat,  showing  his  arm 
in  a  sling. 

It  was  Robley  Stuyverant,  once  more  desperately 
hoping  for  the  vision  of  a  face  which  at  last  he  had 
seen  once  again.  He  saw  her  skimming  lightly  by, 
with  never  a  turn  of  her  head,  her  thoroughbred  a-tin- 
gle  in  his  glad  response  to  the  beating  and  wish  of  her 
heart.  He  wanted  to  cry  out  mightily,  to  turn  and 
pursue,  to  halt  her  somewhere  —  anywhere  —  for  a 
moment  of  looking  in  her  eyes. 

She  was  gone  almost  before  his  thoughts  could  ar- 
range themselves  in  order.  Stifling  an  utterance  akin 
to  a  groan,  he  sank  once  more  on  the  cushions,  and  in- 
stantly recovered  sufficient  of  his  natural  acumen  to 
gaze  out  again  for  Thurley's  attendant. 

"  Great  roaring  ghosts ! "  he  exclaimed  aloud  as 
James  went  feverishly  past.  He  had  recognized  Alice's 
man. 

A  mad,  unreasoning  impulse  to  escape  his  present 
obligations  with  the  quiet  old  woman  at  his  side  and 
hasten  pellmell  to  the  Van  Kirk  mansion  was  the  initial 
suggestion  in  his  brain.  Then  he  knew  that  no  one 
would  be  found  at  home,  and  could  only  hope  that 
Thurley  might  cross  his  orbit  again. 

It  seemed  likely  that  she  would  cross  every  orbit  in 


REVELATIONS  IN  A  RUNAWAY  61 

the  world.  While  for  herself  it  was  merely  the  wine  of 
unbridled  delight  that  increased  in  her  nature  as  she 
rode,  with  the  horse  it  was  madness  that  was  growing. 
He  too  was  aflame  with  the  love  of  speed,  the  tang  of 
nude  nature  in  the  air,  the  urging  of  joy-heated  blood. 
She  slowed  him  at  the  crossing  of  a  pedestrians'  path, 
and  he  quivered  with  impatience  to  be  off  again,  to  de- 
light alike  the  kindred  spirit  on  his  back  and  the  riot 
in  his  veins. 

She  lifted  the  reins,  and  he  was  swiftly  galloping, 
dipping  to  earth  like  a  swallow.  They  were  headed 
south.  The  park's  length  northward  as  far  as  the 
riding  pathway  went,  and  the  width  of  it  westward,  had 
been  rapidly  traversed.  They  would  be  obliged  to  make 
its  round  a  half-dozen  times  to  satisfy  Thurley's  craving 
for  the  joy. 

The  graveled  way  swung  close  to  the  side  of  the  west- 
ern drive,  where  only  a  few  of  the  chariots  of  wealth 
and  fashion  paraded.  A  number  of  rapidly  moving 
automobiles  were  here,  almost  entirely  in  possession  of 
the  road.  It  was  near  the  spot  where  Robley  Stuy- 
verant  had  fallen  in  the  rain,  and  Thurley  had  been 
launched  by  kindly  Fates. 

A  racing  car  came  swiftly  down  the  stretch,  its  reck- 
less driver  willfully  and  wantonly  shattering  the  most 
liberal  of  the  speed  regulations.  Abreast  of  Thurley's 
Arabian,  already  strung  to  the  highest  nervous  ten- 
sion, the  fellow  suddenly  opened  his  muffler  cutout,  and 
his  great  motor  roared  with  deafening  percussions. 

Instantly  bolting,  after  one  wild  leap  aside,  the  ani- 
mal under  Thurley  flattened  oddly  down  above  the 
earth,  already  streaming  grayly  away  beneath  him,  and 
ran  with  all  his  might. 

His  speed  was  terrific,  —  not  in  the  motion,  which 


62  THURLEY  RUXTON 

had  steadied  to  a  strangely  easy  undulation,  but  be- 
cause of  the  bite  of  impinging  air,  the  dizzying  chaos 
of  trees  and  park  features  stampeding  by  in  confu- 
sion, and  the  sense  of  lost  mastery,  lodged  in  the  girl's 
delighted  being  but  a  moment  earlier. 

She  knew  she  was  helpless  to  control  the  passion  of 
the  thoroughbred,  whose  bone  and  sinew  and  fiery 
blood  had  burned  for  this  moment  of  delirium.  She 
was  not  alarmed.  The  sensation  engendered  by  the 
madness  of  speed  aroused  a  new  sort  of  pleasure,  a  wel- 
coming to  recklessness,  almost  a  wish  for  still  more  ve- 
locity forward.  She  knew  she  could  not  ride  like  this 
for  long  without  gravest  dangers.  They  were  danger- 
ous alike  to  herself  and  to  everything  near  her. 

She  gathered  the  reins  more  closely  in  and  applied 
all  the  strength  of  her  fine  young  arms  to  break  his 
mad  flight  with  the  bit.  But  the  bar  of  steel  was 
clamped  in  his  teeth,  where  resistance  only  whetted  him 
the  more. 

A  shout  went  up  from  someone  in  the  road.  It 
swept  to  the  rear  like  a  wail.  Ahead  was  a  turn  of  the 
bridle  path,  and  beyond  it  —  she  knew  not  what. 
More  yells  and  shouts  came  weirdly  through  the  air 
that  was  storming  roaringly  by.  The  horse  re- 
sponded, if  possible,  with  added  speed. 

Rocks,  a  bridge,  a  group  of  people  walking,  who 
barely  reeled  back  from  the  animal's  course  in  time  to 
escape  his  flying  hoofs,  made  a  series  of  blurs  in 
the  panoramic  rush  that  the  path's  two  sides  had 
become. 

Pale  with  the  chill  of  biting  air  and  likewise  with  her 
cool  comprehension  of  the  menace  of  every  movement, 
Thurley  felt  the  inward  lean  as  the  flight-crazed 


REVELATIONS  IN  A  RUNAWAY          63 

Arabian  took  the  curve  and  plunged  on  in  something 
akin  to  panic  rapidly  succeeding  all  things  else  that 
might  have  been  present  in  his  nature  before.  Then 
her  heart  turned  over  like  a  helpless  bell  swung  too  far 
out  for  its  balance.  The  road  was  almost  wholly  occu- 
pied by  ten  or  more  riders,  women  and  men,  walking 
their  mounts  in  the  same  direction  she  was  racing! 

She  could  not  cry  out  a  warning.  In  a  blinding 
conviction  of  disaster,  she  could  only  tug  with  sturdier 
might  at  the  reins,  already  tight  as  fiddlestrings,  and 
hope  to  steer  for  a  foot-wide  space  between  the  nearest 
riders. 

But  someone  screamed,  some  woman,  sitting  on  an 
iron  bench  that  overlooked  the  scene.  In  utter  fright 
the  riders  scattered  right  and  left  to  let  the  comet 
through.  Then  two  of  the  men,  well  mounted  and 
cool,  spurred  hotly  in  pursuit.  They  were  joined  a 
hundred  yards  below  by  a  mounted  policeman,  who 
swung  forth,  already  at  speed,  before  Thurley  had  won 
to  his  post. 

He  and  the  men  from  the  pleasure  group  fell  behind 
with  the  trees  and  rocks  and  wind  as  the  thoroughbred 
warmed  to  his  work. 

By  then  the  cries  from  a  score  of  throats  had 
alarmed  the  park  for  a  mile.  The  fright  and  excite- 
ment increased  apace,  as  four  mad  riders  hurtled  on, 
Thurley  white  and  rigid  in  the  lead. 

James  had  been  hopelessly  outdistanced  in  the  first 
few  hundred  yards.  Hoofbeat  and  screams  that 
pierced  the  air  sounded  mad  warnings  down  the  course. 
The  bridle  path  dived  beneath  a  bridge  that  spanned 
the  western  drive  of  fashion.  A  hundred  frightened 
women  saw  the  runaway  dynamic  of  power  flashing  his 


64  THURLEY  RUXTON 

muscles  like  engine  parts  in  the  sunlight's  streaming 
rays,  with  the  stiff,  upright  figure  of  the  white-faced 
girl  unflinchingly  applying  strength  and  nerve  and 
courage  to  the  task  of  subduing  his  madness. 

A  second  and  third  of  the  mounted  police  whipped 
into  the  vortex  at  the  curve  that  swung  on  the  path- 
way's eastward  trend.  Over,  across  to  a  dangerous 
junction  of  riders'  path  and  driveway,  shot  the  eager 
horse,  intent  upon  besting  the  animals  in  pursuit.  But 
past  the  policemen  and  past  his  companion  crept  one 
of  the  men  from  the  group  in  the  rear,  slowly  but 
steadily  gaining  on  the  hard-breathing  bay  that  Thur- 
ley  guided. 

And  she,  in  the  meantime,  finally  provoked  into  new 
resolve  to  snatch  back  the  mastery  tautly  held  before, 
lost  patience  with  the  senseless  horse  and  with  it  all 
comprehension  of  her  danger. 

"  Boy,"  she  said,  "  behave  yourself.  You  ought  to 
be  ashamed." 

Abruptly  loosing  both  the  reins,  she  gave  a  sudden, 
powerful  jerk  at  the  right  one,  wrapped  about  her 
hand.  Instantly  sawing  no  less  stoutly  at  the  other, 
she  felt  the  bit  give  back  to  its  place  against  the  ten- 
der portion  of  the  creature's  jaw,  which  was  then  sub- 
jected to  the  splendid  strength  that  the  moment  lent 
to  her  arms  and  body. 

She  was  sawing  him  back  to  another  thought  than 
that  of  wild  stampede,  with  impatience  that  bled  him 
at  the  mouth,  as  they  dashed  less  swiftly  toward  the 
junction.  More  cries  ahead  were  mingled  with  the 
distant  shouting  at  the  rear.  The  driveway  of  fashion 
began  to  clog  with  vehicles,  halted  in  confusion-  and 
affright. 


REVELATIONS  IN  A  RUNAWAY          65 

Then  up  from  the  rear  shot  the  rider  who  had 
headed  all  but  Thurley's  thoroughbred.  He  too  rode 
superbly,  and  was  mounted  on  a  powerful  black,  a  blue 
grass  product  of  the  racing  blood,  without  a  peer  in 
the  city. 

Nevertheless,  when  the  rider's  hand  projected  for- 
ward at  the  last  and  clutched  Thurley's  horse  by  the 
bit,  she  had  already  calmed  his  raging  fire  and  had 
pulled  him  down  to  sidewise  locomotion. 

The  group  swung  sharply  inward  to  the  left,  and 
Thurley's  bay,  resentful  of  the  needless  interference, 
flung  outward  again  to  the  right.  The  saddle,  loos- 
ened by  the  strain  and  pressure  of  the  race,  turned 
from  the  change  of  Thurley's  momentum  and  threw 
her  easily  off  on  her  side  in  the  gravel. 

She  was  neither  bruised  nor  scratched;  but  groans 
and  cries  arose  from  the  breathless  audience  in  the 
halted  procession  on  the  drive.  Policemen  and  the 
others,  distanced  in  the  mad  pursuit,  rode  hotly  to  the 
scene,  even  as  Thurley  sprang  to  her  feet  and  took  her 
horse  in  hand. 

The  only  man  who  had  ridden  with  sufficient  speed 
to  be  in  at  the  crucial  moment  had  dismounted.  He 
was  young,  smooth  shaven,  and  ruddy.  He  had 
snatched  off  his  cap  and  was  soberly  regarding  the 
wondrous  surge  of  color  returning  to  Thurley's  cheeks, 
when  another  man  came  running  there  from  the  drive's 
congested  traffic. 

It  was  Stuyverant,  white  and  excited.  "  Princess !  " 
he  cried. 

Thurley  turned,  beheld  him,  and  flushed  to  the  tips 
of  her  ears. 

"  Here,  give  me  that  horse,"  said  one  of  the  mounted 


66  THURLEY  RUXTON 

policeman,  now  on  foot  beside  the  others.  "  The  young 
lady  might  have  been  killed." 

"  Nonsense !  "  said  Thurley.  "  He's  calm  enough 
now.  If  someone  will  please  adjust  the  saddle  — " 

"Are  you  hurt?"  said  Stuyverant,  crowding  to  her 
side.  "  Is  there  anything  I  can  do  ?  " 

James,  other  riders,  and  a  dozen  men,  together  with 
added  numbers  of  policemen,  arrived  there  in  all  man- 
ner of  haste.  Thurley  foresaw  interference  and  annoy- 
ance. She  turned  to  Stuyverant  gladly,  as  to  one  she 
felt  she  knew. 

"  I'm  not  even  scratched,"  she  told  him  in  her  spir- 
ited manner.  "  He  was  stopping.  He's  not  excited 
now.  If  the  saddle  hadn't  turned,  there  would  be  no 
need  for  anyone  to  help." 

The  rider  who  had  caught  at  her  horse's  bit  at  last 
reddened  more  deeply  beneath  the  sun-tan  of  his  face. 
"  I'm  sorry  if  you  think  I  interfered  —  was  the 
cause  —  " 

"  You  were  very  kind,"  said  Thurley  radiantly,  her 
smile  restoring  his  exultation  in  the  moment.  "  Per- 
haps if  you'll  help  me  now  to  —  Oh,  here  is  James. 
The  saddle,  James,  will  you  please  put  it  on  a  little 
tighter?" 

"  Look  here,  Miss,"  said  the  policeman  who  was  hold- 
ing his  own  fine  animal  as  well  as  the  quivering  bay,  "  I 
don't  want  to  make  you  no  trouble,  nor  nothing  like 
that,  but  this  horse  here  is  excited.  He  ain't  fit  for 
no  lady  to  ride." 

He  too  received  a  smile.  "  You  wouldn't  arrest  him 
for  a  little  run  like  that?  If  you  please,  I  think  I  know 
him  best.  I'll  give  you  my  word  he'll  behave." 

Stuyverant  longed  for  the  use  of  his  injured  arm. 


REVELATIONS  IN  A  RUNAWAY          67 

He  thought  of  another  expedient.  "  You  wouldn't 
think  of  riding  him  again  —  not  this  morning !  "  he 
said,  hopelessly  convinced  that  a  girl  of  Thurley's  spirit 
would  think  of  nothing  else.  "  Let  me  offer  to  take  you 
home.  The  carriage  is  here." 

James  was  adjusting  the  saddle  stolidly. 

The  rider  who  had  all  but  effected  a  rescue  fancied  he 
read  the  one  desire  in  Thurley's  courageous  nature. 
"  The  horse  was  under  control  entirely,"  he  said.  "  I'm 
sorry  I  interfered.'*  He  was  not;  he  was  riotously 
glad.  "  I'm  sure  the  lady  may  be  trusted  to  ride  him 
safely  home." 

"  Well  now,  I  don'no,"  said  the  officer. 

"  No,  no !  "  said  a  man  in  the  gathering  crowd. 
"  It's  madness  —  a  beast  like  that !  " 

Thurley  had  heard  only  the  man  who  had  ridden  to 
her  side  and  helped  to  dislodge  her  from  her  seat.  She 
turned  to  him  appealingly.  "  Not  home  —  I'd  rather 
not  go  home  just  yet.  I  do  wish  people  wouldn't  act 
so  seriously !  Please  help  me  go  on  as  I  was  !  " 

Stuyverant  was  desperate.  The  policeman  was  afraid 
of  troubles  that  might  still  develop. 

"  You  see,  Miss,"  he  started,  above  the  murmur  and 
protest  of  the  crowd,  "  a  horse  like  this  — " 

"  Here,  Officer,"  muttered  the  ruddy  young  rider  of 
the  black,  slipping  a  bill  into  the  big  hard  hand  of  the 
law's  representative,  "just  scatter  the  crowd.  With  a 
dozen  of  you  chaps  watching  him  now,  the  horse  can 
do  no  harm."  He  saw  that  James  had  concluded  the 
readjustment  of  the  saddle.  "  May  I  assist  you  up?  " 
he  added  to  Thurley,  offering  his  card.  "  It's  the  least 
I  can  do,  after  helping  to  bring  you  down." 

Thurley  smiled  her  acceptance  of  his  offer,  and  re- 


68  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

ceived  the  card.  Already  the  policemen  were  moving 
back  the  crowd  and  heading  other  horsemen  from  the 
scene.  A  number  of  those  who  were  nearest  the  path 
saw  Thurley  once  more  mounted  on  her  throne.  Stuy- 
verant  pressed  in  once  again  and  halted  in  front  of  the 
restless  horse,  looking  up  beseechingly. 

"  May  I  not  see  you  soon?  "  he  said.  "  If  I  hadn't 
been  crippled  like  this  —  " 

Thurley  looked  down  at  his  upturned  face  with  glory 
and  mischief  burning  together  in  her  eyes.  "  If  you 
can  find  me  —  yes."  She  did  not  know  that  he  had 
recognized  her  man. 

Then  James  released  the  thoroughbred  and  she  gal- 
loped quietly  away. 


CHAPTER  X 

A  ROYAL  ROLE 

A  FRAGRANT,  spicy  furore  swept  searchingly  through 
swelldom,  stirring  its  units  to  the  depths.  Whence 
sprang  the  intelligence  no  one  knew;  for  a  score  of 
prominent  personages  claimed,  almost  simultaneously, 
to  have  made  the  discovery  that  Princess  Thirvinia, 
missing  from  Europe  and  said  to  be  traveling  or  visit- 
ing incognito  in  America,  was  the  guest  of  Alice  Van 
Kirk. 

The  tropic  storm,  involving  curiosity,  envy,  incre- 
dulity, and  the  most  intense  concern,  raged  with  its 
own  sort  of  languorous  violence  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  upper  social  stratum.  On  orchid's 
breath  and  on  jeweled  wings  the  word  was  sped  of  the 
beauty  and  daring  of  the  glorious  girl  who  had  come 
to  masquerade  among  them. 

A  hundred  or.  more  of  the  world's  elept,  who  knew 
and  spoke  with  authority,  had  seen  the  headstrong 
horsemanship,  the  runaway,  the  fall,  and  Thurley's  re- 
turn to  her  horse's  back,  of  which  all  the  avenue  was 
talking.  A  dozen  remembered  to  have  caught  a  recent 
glimpse  of  Alice  Van  Kirk  with  a  girl  extraordinarily 
handsome.  One  or  two  men  had  heard  Robley  Stuy- 
verant  call  her  Princess  as  he  ran  to  her  assistance. 
The  wonderful  contrast  of  her  golden  hair,  her  choco- 
late eyes,  and  the  darkness  of  her  brows,  had  escaped 
not  one  who  had  seen  her. 


70  THURLEY  RUXTON 

Excitement,  speculation,  and  a  thousand  forgotten 
intentions  to  cultivate  Alice  Van  Kirk  sprang  into  im- 
mediate activity  —  and  the  fondest  of  Alice's  social 
hopes  had  been  granted  well  nigh  instantaneous  fulfill- 
ment. 

Thurley  had  been  home  an  hour,  and  Alice  barely 
twenty  minutes,  when  the  first  delighted  buzz  of  the 
oncoming  storm  penetrated  the  quiet  magnificence  of 
the  palace  on  the  avenue  and  warned  the  expectant 
hostess.  It  entered  by  means  of  the  'phone  —  a 
woman's  voice,  solicitous,  endearing,  protesting  a  never 
forgotten  friendship,  and  inquiring  as  to  any  possible 
injuries  inflicted  on  Mrs.  Van  Kirk's  beautiful  guest 
by  her  accident  in  the  park. 

"  It  is  like  your  enterprise,  my  dear,  to  harbor  an 
errant  Princess,"  added  the  woman  caressingly.  "  It 
justifies  the  faith  I  have  always  reposed  in  your  origi- 
nality and  leadership.  It  is  Princess  Thirvinia,  of 
course?  " 

"Has  anyone  heard  me  say  so?"  answered  Alice 
evasively,  "  or  anything  at  all  ?  " 

"  My  dear,"  said  the  friend,  "  I  have  always  praised 
your  discretion,  and  now  you  compel  me  again.  I 
thought  perhaps  you  and  your  charming  protegee 
might  join  my  little  informal  dinner  party  at  the  Plaza 
on  the  eighth  and  help  to  fill  my  Horse  Show  box  in 
the  evening.  May  I  count  upon  you,  dear  ?  " 

"  I  fear  it  would  hardly  be  safe,"  said  Alice,  and  she 
presently  added,  "  Good  by." 

She  hastened  at  once  to  Thurley's  presence,  for  need 
of  a  clarifying  conference.  She  appeared  quite  calm, 
even  languid,  as  she  came  in,  tall,  erect,  and  almost 
military  in  her  strong  resemblance  to  the  Major;  but 


A  ROYAL  ROLE  71 

excitement  was  burning  in  her  bosom.  Accounts  of 
Thurley's  ride  had  been  sufficiently  agitating;  but  this 
was  of  vastly  different  order. 

"  Dear  child,"  she  said,  employing  an  appellation  re- 
cently born  of  her  swiftly  increasing  fondness  for  the 
girl,  "  I  wonder  if  you  realize  all  that  happened  to-day 
in  the  park?  " 

Thurley,  who  was  resting  after  a  session  with  her 
maids,  looked  up  at  Alice  inquiringly,  a  serious  pucker 
on  her  brow.  They  had  spoken  of  the  accident  before. 

"  Why  —  not  if  it's  anything  dreadful.  Nothing,  I 
hope,  to  give  you  worry,"  she  said.  "  You  haven't 
decided,  after  all,  that  I'm  not  to  ride  him  again !  " 

"It  isn't  that;  but,  as  for  worry,  judge  for  your- 
self," said  Alice  with  a  smile.  "  You  convinced  the 
world  —  our  world,  at  least  —  that  Princess  Thirvinia, 
living  for  a  time  incognito,  was  here  in  New  York  as 
my  guest." 

Thurley  was  grave  and  flushed  for  a  moment,  then 
burst  into  laughter,  deliciously  fresh.  "  How  utterly 
ridiculous!  It's  perfectly  absurd!  I  wondered  why 
Mr.  Stuyverant  should  call  me  —  But  of  course  they 
will  soon  understand.  No  one  could  be  long  deceived 
by  anything  so  ludicrous." 

"  That  is  not  altogether  so  certain,"  Alice  answered 
seriously.  "  What  was  it  Robley  Stuyverant  called 
you,  my  dear?  " 

"  Why  —  *  Princess,'  I  think."  Her  cheeks  took  on 
a  tint  of  embarrassment  and  pleasure.  "  Of  course  he 
doesn't  know  my  name !  but  why  he  should  think  — 
If  he  is  the  only  one  who  thinks  so  —  so  peculiarly  — " 

"  He  is  not,  dear  child.  He  is  one  of  scores  who  are 
quite  convinced  they  have  shown  tremendous  acumen 


72  THURLEY  RUXTON 

in  making  the  same  discovery.  Doesn't  the  notion 
rather  amuse  and  please  you?  " 

"  Why,  but  —  think  of  daring  to  let  them  —  of 
posing,  I  mean  —  and  being  revealed,  and  all  that ! 
It  might  be  amusing  for  a  day,  of  course,  especially 
with  all  you  are  doing  —  giving  me  —  making  of  me, 
here.  But,  Alice,  to  dare  to  claim  —  Don't  you  see 
how  you  —  how  I  —  both  of  us  would  appear  the  min- 
ute the  facts  came  out?  " 

Alice  nodded.  "  Precisely,  my  dear  Thurley.  And 
that  is  exactly  why  we  do  not  intend  to  make  the 
slightest  claim  or  pretense  to  anything  of  the  sort. 
But  do  you  think  of  any  good  reason  for  revealing  any- 
thing at  all?  Should  we  try  to  disabuse  the  minds  of 
any  of  these  people  who  flattered  themselves  by  their 
cleverness  in  discovering  the  marked  resemblance  be- 
tween yourself  and  Princess  Thirvinia?  " 

Thurley  looked  at  her  sharply,  her  eyes  grown  grave 
at  once.  "  Do  you  mean  —  " 

"  I  mean,  my  dear,  that  if  we  denied  the  soft  im- 
peachment we  should  only  convince  them  the  more.  I 
mean  it  would  certainly  amuse  us  both  and  afford  us 
immeasurable  entertainment  to  permit  them  to  think 
what  they  please,  —  to  assert  nothing,  deny  nothing ; 
merely  permit  events  to  shape  themselves  as  they  will. 
Wouldn't  that  please  and  amuse  you,  dear?  Couldn't 
you  play  the  role?  " 

"  The  role  of  a  —  Princess?  " 

"  The  role  of  a  lovely  young  girl  whose  identity  is 
wholly  unknown.  If  you  fit  the  mold  of  a  Princess,  I 
should  call  it  singularly  good  fortune." 

Thurley  burned  warmly  again,  with  innate  modesty 
and  with  irrepressible  delight  in  the  thought,  with  its 


A  ROYAL  ROLE  73 

attendant  possibilities.  "  But  I  —  I  shouldn't  know 
the  very  first  thing  of  the  way  a  Princess  behaves  or 
talks  or  anything.  And  Princess  Thirvinia  must  be  a 
German,  or  something  like  it,  of  course." 

"  And  you  once  taught  French  and  German,  and  told 
me  you  lived  three  years  on  the  Continent.  I  have 
heard  you  speaking  both  languages  to  your  maids. 
In  addition  to  that,  you  must  certainly  see  that  Prin- 
cess Thirvinia,  attempting  to  conceal  herself,  or  to 
masquerade  in  Manhattan,  would  naturally  make  every 
possible  effort  to  act  as  unlike  a  royal  personage  as 
possible.  Oh,  you  could  do  it,  my  dear,  if  that  was  our 
desire.  But  at  most  I  have  only  suggested  the  amuse- 
ment of  maintaining  absolute  secrecy,  or  mystery,  as 
to  who  and  what  you  are,  and  permitting  our  clever  ac- 
quaintances to  do  the  rest  for  themselves.  You  will  do 
this  much  to  please  me,  I  am  sure." 

Thurley  regarded  her  soberly.  "  You  desire  it  very 
much?  " 

"  It  would  please  me  greatly,  amuse  me,  afford  me 
new  interest  in  life." 

Thurley  was  silent  for  a  moment,  her  face  flushed 
and  paler  by  turns.  Slowly  the  brightest  sparkle  of  a 
smile  and  flash  of  jewel  brightness  came  to  her  eyes. 
"  It  would  be  a  lark  —  good  fun." 

"  You'll  do  it,  dear?  "  Alice  was  far  more  eager 
than  accent  or  movement  could  possibly  indicate. 

Thurley  was  instantly  reflective.  "  What  would  the 
role  involve?  How  should  I  have  to  begin?  You  see, 
I  don't  in  the  least  know  what  I  should  have  to  do." 

"  Do  almost  nothing,"  Alice  informed  her  sagely. 
"  Let  people  make  fools  of  themselves  —  if  that  is  their 
whim.  It's  so  much  more  complete.  We  shall  simply 


74  THURLEY  RUXTON 

evade  and  parry  all  questions,  make  no  claims,  and 
rather  avoid  the  subject  than  court  it.  All  I  require  of 
you,  my  dear,  is  that  you  make  no  disclaimers  to  any- 
one; that  you  reveal  nothing  at  all  from  the  past;  and 
that  you  spend  money  regally,  continue  lovely,  and 
avoid  all  heart  entanglements  for  at  least  a  year.  You 
know  I  asked  that  before,  and  received  your  acceptance 
of  the  condition.  You  are  free,  of  course,  to  conduct 
all  the  mild  flirtations  you  please.  I  really  wish  you  to 
be  royally  happy  and  free." 

"  Oh,  Lordy !  "  said  Thurley  girlishly,  her  face  fairly 
beaming  with  dimpling  smiles.  "  It's  so  comical !  Do 
you  really  think  I'm  worth  it,  think  I  shan't  make  a 
failure  of  it  all?" 

She  had  risen  in  her  new  excitement  of  spirit,  and 
Alice  rose  to  take  her  two  warm  hands. 

"  Dear  child,"  she  said,  "  I  don't  believe  there's  an 
ounce  of  failure  in  your  composition.  If  you  wish  to 
know,  I  think  it  rather  your  natural  right  to  be  an 
American  Princess."  She  kissed  her  honestly,  adding, 
"  I  have  always  felt  I'd  like  to  make  one,  my  own  way." 

Thurley  smiled  with  tender  wistfulness.  "  I'm  so 
afraid  I  may  have  to  wake  up !  I  was  never  loyal  to  a 
fairy  queen  before.  It's  so  odd  to  have  to  believe  in 
fairies  now ! " 

"  But  you  do.  It's  a  bargain,  then,  my  harsh  con- 
ditions and  all?" 

"  Why  —  I  suppose  so.  It  could  do  no  harm  to  any- 
one in  the  world.  But  suppose  that  someone  —  any- 
one I  used  to  know  —  should  find  me  out  and  explode 
the  little  fiction?" 

"What  fiction?"  said  Alice.  "You  see,  my  dear, 
we  are  putting  forth  no  fiction.  We  must  both  remem- 


A  ROYAL  ROLE  75 

her  that.  Besides,  you  are  rather  far  removed  from 
all  your  older  life  and  associations.  Let's  consider  the 
agreement  settled  and  begin  to  enjoy  the  play." 

"  I  couldn't  help  enjoying  the  situation,"  Thurley 
admitted.  "  I'm  afraid  I'm  hopelessly  human." 

"  Thank  Heaven  !  "  said  Alice.  "  Let's  go  down.  I 
hear  the  'phone." 


CHAPTER  XI 

CONFIRMING   A   RUMOR 

ALL  evening  the  telephone  was  jangling  and  the  wire 
was  warm  with  invitations,  declarations  of  friendship, 
and  solicitude  for  the  nerves  of  the  royal  little  rider 
who  had  been  all  but  thrown  in  the  park.  Through- 
out all  swelldom  the  silvery  alarms  were  tinkling,  some 
as  bald  warnings  to  beware  of  sham,  some  in  sheer 
trepidation  of  spirit,  and  some  as  a  mere  relief  to  be- 
ings hopelessly  burdened  with  ennui. 

On  the  following  day,  which  was  Alice's  afternoon  at 
home,  the  stir  and  the  test  began.  Fifty  or  more  of 
Gotham's  elect,  including  delegates  from  the  sharpest, 
the  wealthiest,  and  the  most  inquisitive  cliques,  remem- 
bered that  attentions  had  long  been  due  to  Alice  Van 
Kiirk  and  arrived  to  meet  their  obligations. 

Stuyverant  came  at  four,  only  to  find  himself  help- 
lessly isolated  from  the  Princess  by  others  more  prompt 
than  himself.  He  had  never  thought  her  so  regally 
dainty,  so  altogether  irresistible  and  exquisite,  as  he 
found  her  to-day  when  she  gave  him  her  hand  the  mo- 
ment when  Alice  formally  made  them  acquainted. 

She  was  introduced  merely  as  Miss  Thurley,  and  not 
by  the  slightest  sign  or  hint  was  the  claim  to  royalty 
admitted.  No  vision  more  girlishly  lovely,  sincere,  or 
disarming  than  she  presented,  there  by  Alice's  side, 
had  ever  been  known  in  all  Manhattan.  To  those  of 
the  keenly  astute  frame  of  mind  who  addressed  her  in 

76 


CONFIRMING  A  RUMOR  77 

French  or  German  she  replied  in  their  chosen  tongue 
with  piquancy  and  ease  that  almost  invariably  shamed 
their  somewhat  puny  and  unpracticed  accomplish- 
ments in  Continental  languages. 

The  very  evasions  and  faint  denials  by  which  Alice 
parried  the  bolder  assertions  that  Thurley  had  been  in- 
stantly recognized  and  might  as  well  be  confessed,  only 
served  to  strengthen  the  conviction  as  to  Thurley's 
royal  origin.  It  was  all  adroit,  tactful,  insidious ;  and 
it  met  its  just  reward.  Those  who  had  come  sur- 
charged with  doubt  and  ready  to  prick  the  bubble  of 
Alice  Van  Kirk's  latest  triumph,  were  the  first  to  be 
self  deluded,  and  hence  the  wonder  grew. 

A  meager  five  minutes  was  the  utmost  that  Stuy- 
verant  and  Thurley  could  manage  to  detach  in  which  to 
be  even  approximately  alone.  He  was  simply  nearer 
to  her  side  than  anyone  else  as  she  sat  in  a  corner  of 
the  room. 

He  moved  a  trifle  closer  and  lowered  his  voice. 
"  Did  you  think  I  shouldn't  find  you  yesterday,  Miss 
Thurley,  when  you  gave  me  permission  to  try?  " 

She  met  the  ardor  of  his  gaze  with  candid  interest, 
noting  the  change  that  absence  of  pain  had  wrought 
upon  his  face  and  mentally  approving  his  finely  chiseled 
features,  the  healthy  glow  of  his  color,  and  the  steady 
level  of  his  warm  gray  eyes. 

She  laughed.  "  Did  I  appear  to  stop  and  think  at 
all?  You  haven't  spoken  of  your  wrist.  I  hope  it's 
mending  rapidly." 

His  eyes  were  shining.  "  I  still  prefer  someone  else 
to  drive  the  car.  Will  you  sometime  permit  me  to 
thank  you  properly  ?  " 

"Would  it  be  so  improper  now?" 


78  THURLEY  RUXTON 

He  met  her  merry  glance  undaunted.  "  It  would  be 
a  sacrilege  —  in  the  presence  of  all  these  persons.  Of 
course  you're  aware  they  are  simply  a  lot  of  self-ap- 
pointed appraisers  —  and  I'm  sure  you  know  I  am  not." 

"  I  must  be  very  knowing,"  said  Thurley,  «  to  know 
so  much  so  soon." 

"  It's  ^  the  third  time  we've  met,"  he  answered. 
'  There  is  always  a  charm  in  threes." 

Her  eyes  showed  mock  dejection.  "Oh,  isn't  that 
too  bad?  You  may  wish  never  to  disturb  the  charm 
again !  " 

He  was  equal  to  the  quip.  "  It  can  never  be  dis- 
turbed, once  established  like  this.  In  fact,  as  soon  as 
you  took  the  wheel  that  day  in  the  park,  it  was  com- 
plete." 

"  I  feared  it,"  she  answered,  —  "  complete,  finished, 
labeled,  and  laid  away,  to  be  forgotten." 

He  was  nonplussed  only  for  a  moment.  "  I  can  see 
you  were  never  a  boy  when  the  jam  was  labeled  and 
laid  away  — to  be  remembered."  He  glanced  up 
quickly  where  one  of  the  maids  had  admitted  new  call- 
ers at  the  door.  «  Good  Heavens !  "  he  added,  behold- 
ing two  exceedingly  ample  women  surging  in  majestic- 
ally, "  more  old  Dreadnoughts  !  I  wanted  to  ask  —  " 

But  Alice  was  coming. 

Thurley  rose,  not  only  to  meet  the  imposing  visitors, 
but  also  a  man  in  their  company. 

For  a  moment  she  wondered,  almost  in  fear,  where 
the  eyes  of  this  man  might  have  confronted  hers  be- 
fore. Then  she  knew  him,  —  the  rider  encountered  in 
the  park,  he  who  had  raced  to  halt  her  horse  and 
helped  her  to  her  sudden  dismounting.  His  name  was 
Kelsey  Woods. 


CONFIRMING  A  RUMOR  79 

"  Shamelessly  glad  to  see  you  again,"  he  informed 
her  with  pleasant  boldness  of  candor.  "  Sorry  not  to 
find  you  riding  out  to-day." 

Then  his  eyes  came  to  rest  for  a  second  on  the  face 
of  Robley  Stuyverant,  heading  for  Alice  Van  Kirk. 
Their  glances  met  and  exchanged  some  manner  of  chal- 
lenge that  their  formal  bows  made  little  attempt  to  dis- 
guise. 

Three  minutes  later,  when  Lady  Honore  Calthorp, 
and  young  Count  Jose  Viziano  y  Fiaschi,  the  fiery 
Spanish-Italian  duelist  and  Romeo  of  numerous  Euro- 
pean capitalists,  made  their  appearance,  Alice's  cup 
was  filled  with  a  violence  almost  alarming. 

"Ah,  Mam'selle!"  said  the  Count  almost  instantly 
on  his  presentation  to  Thurley,  his  voice  reminiscent  of 
Vesuvian  flames  and  lavas.  "  In  St.  Petersburg  I  die 
three  time  to  have  this  honor  —  mine  at  last !  "  and  he 
kissed  her  hand  with  Italian  fervor  and  Spanish  grace, 
cracking  his  heels  together  energetically  as  he  bent  his 
supple  waist.  "  At  last  my  soul  is  in  flight  above  the 
clouds  !  —  but  you  do  not  recall  you  have  seen  me,  no !  " 

"I  —  I'm  afraid  I  do  not,"  said  Thurley,  unprepared 
for  such  a  demonstration.  "  I'm  sure  I  should  remem- 
ber." 

"  Valgame  Dios! "  he  answered  from  his  altitude 
above  the  clouds.  "  You  have  only  changed  to  become 
more  lovely." 

Then  he  met  the  cold  American  stare  of  Stuy- 
verant's  blue-gray  and  Woods'  light  greenish  eyes,  and 
a  little  comprehended  that  the  course  even  of  a  Romeo's 
ardor  may  not  be  so  smooth  as  milk. 

Thurley  escaped  with  a  surge  of  relief,  to  the  placid 
stolidity  of  Lady  Honore  Calthorp's  presence,  and  be- 


80  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

gan  to  wonder  how  the  game  on  which  she  had  entered 
would  end. 

It  had  only  begun.  The  afternoon  was  a  calm,  un- 
excited  prologue  merely  of  the  complications,  rivalries, 
shocks,  and  surprises  already  mustered,  out  beyond,  to 
procession  into  and  through  her  life,  newly  launched 
in  its  royal  career. 

Conventionality  cleared  the  house  within  the  ensuing 
hour;  but  nothing  could  clear  the  pathway  reaching 
out  ahead,  where  its  windings  and  grades,  its  rocky 
slopes  and  grassy  reaches,  were  alike  obscured  in  the 
veils  of  things  that  were  yet  to  be,  too  remote  to  cast 
a  shadow  or  reflect  the  glow  of  the  sun. 

In  the  next  few  days  full  confirmation  of  the  fact 
that  Alice  Van  Kirk's  protegee  was  none  other  than  the 
royal  Princess  Thirvinia  was  vouchsafed  from  every  di- 
rection, despite  the  Van  Kirk  evasions  and  Thurley's 
avoidance  of  the  subject.  Besiegers  stormed  the  Fifth 
Avenue  mansion  in  droves.  Friends,  admirers,  and  in- 
vitations multiplied  appallingly,  and  then  —  the  Horse 
Show  opened  the  season  of  the  goddesses  of  wealth. 


CHAPTER  XII 

HORSES  AND  HUMANS 

NEVER  had  the  premiere  of  Society's  pet  function  been 
so  brilliant.  Never  had  the  gilded  hostelries  of 
Gotham  entertained  so  great  a  number  of  guests  at 
Horse  Show  dinners,  nor  had  special  decorations  and 
favors  at  the  gorgeous  dining  rooms  ever  been  so  lavish 
or  so  costly.  It  was  the  night  of  the  horse  and  splen- 
dor, the  splendor  of  raiment,  jewels,  and  beauty  for 
which  American  women  are  famous  throughout  the 
world. 

The  attendance  at  huge  old  transformed  Madison 
Square  Garden  was  more  brilliant  than  either  the  show 
or  the  setting.  It  was  late  when  the  boxes  began  to 
fill,  —  the  arena  boxes,  separated  from  the  horses'  ring 
only  by  the  railed-off  promenade.  Superbly  gowned 
and  furred,  the  women  began  to  arrive  at  nine,  despite 
the  fact  that  many  ring  events  had  been  scheduled  for 
an  hour  earlier.  At  half-past  nine,  with  six  magnifi- 
cent teams  of  heavy  draft  horses  proudly  entering  upon 
the  tanbark,  and  the  boxes  practically  filled,  the  band, 
by  mere  coincidence,  struck  up  the  German  national  an- 
them —  and  Thurley  and  Alice  arrived. 

A  murmur  of  excitement,  admiration,  and  homage  al- 
most instantly  arose.  No  more  exquisitely  regal  fig- 
ure had  ever  graced  the  garden  than  Thurley  pre- 
sented, moving  slowly  with  Alice  and  her  party  to  their 
box.  Never  had  Thurley's  fresh  young  beauty  so 

81 


82  THURLEY  RUXTON 

glowed  and  irradiated  charm.  She  was  gowned  like  a 
veritable  Princess  of  this  fairy  court. 

With  herself  and  Alice  were  Lady  Honore  Calthorp, 
Major  Rutherford  of  the  Seventh  British  Hussars,  the 
Hon.  Miss  Dorothy  Hedrington,  Lieutenant  Lee  Gehard 
Curtiss  (14th  Cavalry,  U.  S.  A.),  and  his  wife,  all  of 
whom  had  comprised  the  Van  Kirk  dinner  party  at  the 
Plaza. 

Thurley  had  never  been  more  happily  excited  in  her 
life  than  when,  as  they  reached  their  box  and  assumed 
their  seats,  the  beauty  and  thrill  of  it  crept  to  her 
senses  and  the  wine  of  it  surged  in  her  pulses.  She  was 
unaware  of  a  thousand  pair  of  eyes  already  focused 
upon  her.  Her  heart  was  beating  to  the  music;  her 
color  was  glowing  to  the  softened  refulgence  of  a 
thousand  crystals  of  flame;  her  nature  was  tingling 
with  warmth  and  delight  at  the  sight  of  the  twenty- 
four  great  horses  in  the  ring,  six  teams  of  four  each, 
superbly  accoutred  and  arching  their  necks  with  con- 
scious pride  in  their  strength  and  breeding  as  they 
moved  about  on  the  tanbark  of  the  oval. 

Below  her  were  scores  of  beings  of  all  degrees  in  the 
social  world.  A  fringe  of  men  and  women,  absorb- 
ingly interested  in  horses,  and  nothing  but  horses,  hung 
upon  the  wooden  rail  about  the  ring,  as  children  might 
at  a  circus.  Behind  them  and  frequently  mingling  with 
them  were  men  in  evening  costume  and  women  richly 
gowned,  who  represented  the  sporting  element  of  Goth- 
am's elect.  Between  these  latter  and  the  balustrade 
of  the  boxes  paraded  scores  and  droves  of  the  curious, 
frankly  inspecting  the  occupants  of  favored  seats  above 
them. 

All  sorts   and  conditions   were  represented   in   this 


HORSES  AND  HUMANS  83 

ever-moving  procession,  from  the  wealthiest  and  most 
select,  to  the  poorest  girl  worker  from  some  Broadway 
office,  treating  herself  to  this  proximity  to  wealth  and 
the  scions  thereof. 

Far  across,  and  up  and  down  the  huge  arena,  the 
scores  of  boxes  were  filled  with  the  darlings  of  money 
and  power,  and  back  and  forth  their  occupants  were 
visiting,  a  hundred  already  alive  with  interest  at  the 
news  that  the  Princess  had  appeared. 

Robley  Stuyverant  arrived  at  the  Van  Kirk  box  al- 
most at  Alice's  heels.  He  had  barely  time  to  pay  his 
respects  to  the  occupants  and  be  formally  presented 
to  Major  Rutherford  and  the  Curtisses,  when  the  Ve- 
suvian  Romeo,  Count  Fiaschi,  likewise  arrived,  to  be 
followed  by  young  Baron  Klimsch,  Captain  Fowler, 
Beau  Brymmer  of  the  diplomatic  service,  and  a  con- 
stant stream  of  eager  visitors. 

No  less  than  half  a  dozen  boxes  were  emptied  forth- 
with, as  their  holders  joined  the  now  congesting  parade 
slowly  moving  by  the  place  where  Thurley  sat. 
Amused  and  too  diverted  by  the  horses  and  pageantry 
of  notables  to  find  conversation  with  Stuyverant  or  any 
others  possible,  the  "  Princess  "  gained  in  animation 
momentarily  —  and  her  smile  became  more  infectious 
and  winning. 

"Ah,  Highness,"  she  heard  Count  Fiaschi  murmur 
in  his  reckless  ardor,  "  I  am  dropping  from  the  clouds 
these  days  until  I  see  you  once  again !  My  wings  are 
your  smiles.  You  will  not  see  me  dash  to  earth  with 
all  his  rocks  ?  One  smile !  I  soar  again !  Ah !  " 

Thurley  had  smiled,  it  may  not  be  denied.  "  You 
are  very  considerate,"  she  told  him.  "  You  fear  the 
rocks  might  be  broken." 


84  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

"  Virgen  santisima!  No  1 "  he  assured  her.  "  My 
heart ! " 

She  smiled  again;  and  yet  he  did  not  soar,  but  in- 
stead edged  closer  with  his  chair. 

"  It  is  divinity !  "  he  murmured.  "  It  is  above  Para- 
dise and  —  " 

He  did  not  finish  his  description.  Stuyverant  was 
glowering  upon  him  forbiddingly.  How  utterly  he 
loathed  a  being  who  could  bring  his  grimaces  and  de- 
portment of  courtship  to  this  public  theater!  But  the 
interruption  came  from  another  source. 

Kelsey  Woods,  the  dashing  horseman  of  the  park, 
had  crowded  forward  in  the  press  below  Thurley's  seat 
and,  saluting  with  his  hat,  held  up  his  hand  for  the 
formal  grip  that  hundreds  were  exchanging  between 
boxes  and  parade. 

"  Began  to  fear  you  might  not  come,"  he  confessed, 
with  his  usual  candor.  "  Been  watching  constantly. 
I  say,  I  thought  I  might  ask  you  to  ride  my  hunter 
Wednesday  night,  and  perhaps  drive  my  hackneys  as 
well.  What  do  you  say?" 

Thurley  appeared  all  innocence.  "  All  at  once,  Mr. 
Woods  ?  Wouldn't  it  seem  an  innovation  ?  " 

"  Did  I  make  it  sound  like  that?  "  he  begged.  "  Re- 
version to  my  English  schooling.  Shocking  habit! 
But  you'll  ride  the  hunter?  He's  a  beauty." 

Alice  leaned  down  above  the  throng.  "  Kelsey 
Woods,"  she  said,  "please  take  your  temptations  to 
another  quarter." 

A  sudden  ripple  of  applause,  as  a  team  of  magnifi- 
cent Norman  percherons  received  the  blue  ribbon  for 
a  first  award,  startled  Thurley  to  attention  on  the 
horses.  They  were  trotting  off  like  big,  good-natured 


E3F- 

ifsr  'i**» 


HORSES  AND  HUMANS  85 

playfellows  of  toil,  and  the  girl's  softly  glowing  eyes 
abruptly  focused  on  a  face  below,  at  which  she  gazed 
in  unexplainable  fascination. 

The  face  was  that  of  a  woman,  a  well  gowned,  aris- 
tocratic looking  woman,  with  an  air  of  something  dis- 
tinctly foreign  in  her  composition.  She  was  pale,  her 
face  was  of  an  olive  tint,  and  it  was  large,  too  large 
for  beauty  or  anything  save  a  certain  sense  of  strength. 
It  was  her  eyes,  however,  that  exercised  the  fascination. 
They  were  slightly  slanted,  exceptionally  wide  apart, 
and  of  the  palest,  ice  blue  color  imaginable. 

Fixed  upon  Thurley's  face  with  singular  intensity, 
these  eyes  became  for  a  moment  the  only  visible  objects 
presented  to  the  girl  in  all  the  theater  of  color  and  mo- 
tion. They  were  baleful,  poisonous  seeming  eyes,  pen- 
etrative and  disturbingly  insistent  in  their  stare.  All 
their  concentrated  power  appeared  to  be  centered  on 
the  girl,  who  felt  herself  swiftly  losing  her  sense  of  joy 
and  partaking  of  coldness  of  the  nerves. 

By  an  effort  Thurley  wrenched  her  own  honest  gaze 
from  the  woman's  and  smiled  up  at  Stuyverant,  stand- 
ing at  Alice's  side.  In  the  grateful  light  he  gave  her 
from  his  warm  gray  eyes  she  felt  new  security,  a  com- 
radeship that  someway  took  her  instantly  back  to  that 
day  in  the  park  when  a  fall  broke  his  wrist  and  placed 
him  for  a  little  in  her  care. 


88  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

features,  nodded  once  as  if  to  himself,  and  disappeared 
in  the  throng.  He  was  the  second  curious  individual 
who  had  waited  for  a  clear,  unobstructed  view  of  her 
face  for  reasons  that  were  not  mere  curiosity  or  admira- 
tion. 

There  was  still  a  third  such  being  in  the  garden,  — 
another  woman,  one  of  the  humblest  of  the  humble,  a 
worker,  out  of  employment,  consumed  with  love  of 
things  in  the  unattainable  highest  social  stratum,  and 
now  far  out  in  the  tide  jof  the  crush  that  slowly  pa- 
raded by  the  box  where  Thurley  was  sitting  in  her 
splendor.  She  was  Thurley's  cousin.  She  had  seen 
the  "  Princess  "  from  across  the  ring,  and,  unable  to 
credit  her  senses  or  believe  it  was  she,  was  slowly  work- 
ing forward  with  the  press,  fearful  lest  Thurley  might 
at  any  moment  rise  and  depart  before  she  could  come 
sufficiently  close  perhaps  to  attract  her  gaze. 

Meantime  the  person  with  the  Kaiser  adornment  on 
his  upper  lip,  having  cleared  the  close  packed  audience 
before  the  "  royal  "  box,  made  rapid  progress  down  the 
Garden  to  the  rear,  where  horses  in  waiting,  with  car- 
riages, grooms,  and  footmen,  were  screened  from  the 
general  view,  and,  saluting  a  tall,  whiskered  foreigner, 
stepped  nimbly  aside  to  report. 

"  It  is  she,"  he  stated,  murmuring  his  statement  in 
German.  "  I  should  know  her  in  a  million,  though  I 
saw  her  but  once  at  court." 

"  She  saw  you  ?  She  might  have  known  you !  "  de- 
manded the  other,  with  evident  impatience.  "  What 
of  that?" 

The  smaller  man  shook  a  violent  negative.  "  She 
neither  saw  me  nor  would  she  know  me  by  any  possi- 
bility, though  she  looked  for  an  hour  in  my  face." 


ELEMENTS  OF  COMPLICATION  89 

The  other  turned  and  struck  with  his  fist  in  his  palm. 
"  The  folly,  the  headstrong  folly,  of  her  escapade  — 
and  to  show  herself  in  public  here  like  this !  We  are 
helpless  to  move.  We  can  only,  at  most,  report." 

He  started  in  a  feverish  stride  past  carriages  and 
servants,  and  so,  emerging  from  behind  the  screen  at 
its  opposite  end,  continued  down  on  the  farther  side  of 
the  oval,  making  his  way  to  the  exit  of  the  garden. 
Once  he  paused,  with  his  agent  at  his  heels,  to  glance 
half  resentfully  across  the  ring  at  the  girl  on  the  oppo- 
site side. 

"  So  beautiful,  so  conspicuous ! "  he  muttered  in  his 
throaty  German.  "  The  peril,  the  perpetual  disaster, 
of  beauty !  "  He  shrugged  his  shoulders,  continued  on 
and  out  at  the  door,  and  was  driven  away,  still  accom- 
panied by  his  man,  in  a  limousine  car  that  was  waiting 
for  him. 

Thurley's  relative,  during  this  brief  period,  had 
wormed  her  way  to  a  gap  in  the  fringe  of  people  lean- 
ing on  the  rail  about  the  ring,  and  there  she  caught 
at  an  anchorage  from  which  to  make  her  observations. 
She  was  small  and  insignificant,  this  poor  bit  of  drift 
in  the  daily  tides  of  Gotham,  a  woman  of  perhaps  thir- 
ty-three, rather  white  of  face,  slender,  and  nervous. 
She  bore  not  the  slightest  resemblance  to  Thurley,  at 
whom  she  was  gazing  now  with  faculties  utterly  bewil- 
dered. 

In  one  moment  certain,  in  the  next  unconvinced,  that 
a  being  so  glorious,  so  radiant,  so  obviously  one  of  New 
York's  elite,  could  possibly  have  any  identity  with 
Thurley  Ruxton,  she  lost  all  sense  of  judgment. 
There  were  moments  when  Alice's  protegee  seemed  un- 
mistakably the  cousin  from  New  Haven.  In  the  next 


90  THURLEY  RUXTON 

she  appeared  absolutely  another  individual,  not  even 
so  remarkably  like  Thurley,  after  all. 

It  seemed,  moreover,  preposterous  that  Thurley 
could  have  come  to  this  estate.  Nothing  in  reason 
could  account  for  her  elevation  thus  to  such  patent  fa- 
voritism with  swelldom's  exacting  and  reluctant  mon- 
archs.  And  then,  presently,  to  the  dulled  perception 
of  the  eager  woman's  ears  came  the  tag  end  of  a  con- 
versation, every  part  of  which  she  might  have  over- 
heard. A  man  was  speaking,  one  hallmarked  with  pa- 
trician manners. 

"  Yes,"  he  agreed,  as  if  upon  mature  reflection  and 
estimate,  eying  Thurley  through  half-closed  lids,  as  a 
connoisseur  squints  at  a  painting,  "  she  quite  fulfills  the 
final  requirements  in  a  Princess  —  the  first  I  ever  saw 
that  did.  For  the  most  part  they're  a  bally  homely  lot. 
Princess  Thurvinia  —  I  confess  my  ignorance  of  her 
State;  but  that  hair,  that  Flemish  hair,  I  should  know 
that  in  the  dark." 

Thurley's  cousin  gazed  at  the  "  Princess "  with 
newer  interest,  all  question  instantly  banished  from  her 
mind.  She  could  see  it  was  not  Thurley  now,  and  felt 
herself  flattered  in  that  seat  of  her  former  doubt  that 
had  argued  the  utter  absurdity  of  such  social  eminence 
for  the  girl  who  had  not  so  long  before  taught  stu- 
dents in  the  classic  shades  of  Yale. 

But  she  did  not  move.  0he  was  singularly  fasci- 
nated by  this  juxtaposition  with  royalty.  It  was  al- 
most marvelous  just  to  be  granted  this  fateful  oppor- 
tunity of  feasting  her  eyes  and  soul,  for  once,  on  the 
beauty  and  graciousness  of  one  so  nobly  born  and 
reigning  in  the  court  of  elegance  and  wealth  presented 


ELEMENTS  OF  COMPLICATION  91 

here,  where  all  the  worth-while  world  was  paying  hom- 
age. 

Attentions  to  Thurley  in  the  box,  indeed,  had  ren- 
dered even  casual  regard  of  the  horses  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. In  vain  the  fair  drivers  whipped  their  pairs  to 
speed  and  high  stepping  action.  It  was  Thurley's 
hour,  despite  herself ;  and  Alice  was  fairly  dazed  by  the 
unanimity  with  which  the  eager  social  set  was  plunging 
into  self  delusion. 

Events  in  the  ring  succeeded  one  another  in  a  mere 
routine  made  lifeless  and  colorless  by  the  greater  mag- 
netism at  the  box.  Thurley  had  scarcely  had  time  for 
more  than  mere  quick  glances  at  the  horses  of  the 
show ;  and  Alice  was  thinking  of  the  wisdom  of  retreat. 

Fifteen  saddle  horses  for  women  were  brought  to  the 
oval,  and  Thurley  wished,  with  all  her  heart,  she  might 
enjoy  them  exclusively,  and  be  herself  forgotten  for  a 
little  time  in  which  to  catch  at  her  wits. 

She  turned  in  her  chair,  looking  out  on  the  ring,  and 
then  at  the  faces  closer  by.  Her  glance  was  caught 
of  a  sudden  by  the  white  immobility  of  her  cousin's 
countenance,  as  the  latter  stood  by  the  wooden  rail, 
transfixed  by  delight  and  adoration. 

Instantly  a  shade  of  color  dropped  from  Thurley's 
cheeks,  only  to  rush  back  as  quickly  in  a  hotter, 
deeper  flood  of  disordered  emotions.  Her  recognition 
of  the  small,  slender  figure  had  been  immediate,  and  no 
less  swift  had  been  a  tumult  of  conflict  in  her  brain  and 
heart  as  to  what  she  ought  to  do.  Her  impulse 
prompted  her  head  to  nod,  her  lips  to  curve  in  a  smile 
of  old  affection,  and  her  spirit  to  burn  its  lamps  of  loy- 
alty and  welcome  in  her  eyes.  Her  calculation  and  un- 


92  THURLEY  RUXTON 

derlying  consciousness  of  the  obligation  due  to  Alice 
Van  Kirk  relentlessly  put  on  their  check. 

Confused,  incapable  of  weighing  a  matter  so  unex- 
pectedly confronting  her  judgment  for  decision,  she 
did  nothing  at  all,  save  to  grasp  at  control  of  her  fac- 
ulties —  and  her  cousin  decided  in  her  stead.  Already 
convinced  that  she  was  gazing  at  Princess  Thirvinia, 
the  pale  little  hero  worshiper  merely  blanched  a  bit 
whiter,  thus  to  be  detected  at  her  staring,  fluttered  her 
eyes  in  an  effort  to  recover  her  wavering  wits,  and 
turned  to  the  horses  in  the  ring. 

Thurley  rose  and  met  the  solicitous  scrutiny  of  Alice's 
eyes.  She  smiled,  with  a  forced  restoration  of  her 
poise,  her  one  desire  now  being  to  escape  as  soon  as 
possible.  "  Shall  we  go  ?  "  she  said.  "  It  must  be 
nearly  over." 

"  By  all  means,  my  dear,"  Alice  answered  gladly,  and 
the  evening's  farewells  were  quickly  and  quietly  ex- 
changed. 

Still  in  a  lingering  haze  of  doubt,  unrest,  and  trifling 
apprehension  lest  the  presence  of  her  cousin  in  the  town 
might  possibly  compromise  or  even  jeopardize  her  new 
position  in  the  social  world,  Thurley  followed  mechanic- 
ally where  their  escorts  led  the  way.  Then,  out  in  the 
marble  corridor  of  the  building,  facing  the  draft  of 
November  air  that  swept  in  through  the  open  doors, 
she  received  again  a  peculiar  wireless  shock  for  which 
she  could  have  supplied  no  explanation. 

That  same  foreign  looking  woman  of  the  pale  olive 
face  and  ice  blue  eyes  was  standing  over  against  the 
wall,  her  gaze  hard  set  and  concentrated  on  Thurley's 
striking  features.  Again  that  sense  of  something  bale- 


93 

ful  and  menacing  tinged  the  girl's  nerves  with  chill,  as 
she  met  the  glitter  of  the  other  woman's  scrutiny. 

She  did  not  observe  a  small,  dark  man,  with  eyes  as 
shifty  as  those  of  a  coon,  who  glanced  from  herself  to 
the  woman  by  the  wall,  then  leisurely  followed  from  the 
place. 

Almost  with  the  same  alacrity  with  which  a  carriage 
attendant  on  the  curb  outside  summoned  Alice's  car 
to  receive  its  passengers,  a  second  such  person  called 
up  a  near-by  taxicab,  into  which  the  small,  dark  man 
was  fairly  shunted. 

When  Alice's  car  rolled  up  the  avenue,  the  other 
tagged  it  unobtrusively  at  a  distance  of  discretion  in 
the  rear. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

A  TRIUMPH  AND  A   JAR 

FOR  Thurley  the  Horse  Show  was  over,  while  the 
consequences  of  her  appearance  there  had  only  as  yet 
begun. 

For  the  two  or  three  days  next  ensuing  she  was  dimly 
aware  of  a  small,  gnawing  worry  that  robbed  her  pleas- 
ure of  its  fullest  charm.  She  wondered  a  thousand 
times  if  she  had  played  the  generous,  creditable  part  in 
withholding  her  look  of  recognition  from  her  cousin. 
Time  after  time  she  informed  herself  that  she  had  fol- 
lowed the  only  possible  course,  that  no  good  purpose 
could  have  been  served  by  betraying  her  real  identity 
to  one  so  far  removed  from  herself  by  everything  of 
life;  yet  the  haunting  reflection  still  remained  that  her 
cousin  had  been  denied. 

For  a  much  briefer  time  her  mind  was  concerned 
with  the  image  of  that  other  woman's  face  and  its  in- 
sistent eyes.  All  worries  were  presently  swept  away, 
however,  in  the  wonderful  tumult  of  pleasures  and  ex- 
periences impinging  on  her  changed  existence.  Magic 
followed  magic,  at  the  conjuring  of  money  and  her  own 
inherent  charm.  Like  an  avalanche  of  dream  imagin- 
ings, all  wondrously  rendered  true,  the  favors  of  the 
gods  were  tumbling,  gliding,  and  flowing  in  upon  her 
-wardrobes,  jewels,  the  costliest  furs,  her  own  im- 
ported car  and  retinue  of  servants,  and  a  bank  account 

M 


A  TRIUMPH  AND  A  JAR  95 

of  startling  proportions,  entirely  her  own  and  subject 
only  to  her  regal  little  will. 

She  was  sought  from  noon  till  midnight  by  a  hun- 
dred exclusive  cliques  among  the  women.  She  was 
courted,  flattered,  worshiped,  by  a  score  of  young 
princes  of  wealth.  Into  the  maelstrom  of  beings  whose 
sole  occupation  is  to  woo,  cajole,  and  entice  pleasures 
to  their  grasp,  she  was  whirled  with  dizzying  velocity. 

Her  feeling  of  security  increased.  Worries  and  ap- 
prehensions subsided  rapidly  in  the  conquering  flood 
of  everyday  success.  Her  confidence  became  estab- 
lished, together  with  a  mastery  of  herself  and  the  situa- 
tion, precisely  as  she  felt  her  sense  of  mastery  over 
horses  and  the  giant  forces  of  her  car. 
'  The  opera  season  opened  at  the  psychological  mo- 
ment when  her  new  assurance  had  lent  the  final  polish 
to  her  girlishly  regal  ways.  The  Metropolitan  pre- 
miere was  a  night  of  dazzling  triumph,  for  Alice  as 
well  as  her  protegee.  Neither  overdressed  nor  over 
jeweled,  Thurley  was  a  vision  of  ethereal  beauty  and  im- 
perial grace,  dividing  with  the  wonderful  music  and 
power  of  "  Ai'da  "  the  honors  of  the  evening. 

She  was  exquisite,  as  rare  as  an  orchid,  and  at  times 
as  wholly  unconscious  of  her  loveliness.  She  was  deeply 
moved  by  the  searching,  voluptuous  enchantment  of  the 
epic  thus  uttered  forth  in  melody,  and  in  such  mood 
drifted  far  from  herself  and  far  from  the  mimic  play 
of  which  she  was  the  center. 

She  was  watched  from  afar,  or  from  near  at  hand,  by 
whole  blocks  of  box  occupants,  and  spectators  seated 
less  favorably  in  the  orchestra  stalls.  Not  one  of  her 
self  created  satellites  was  absent  from  the  house. 
Count  Fiaschi,  Woods,  Robley  Stuyverant,  poor,  would- 


96  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

be-busy  Willie  Stetson,  Algy  Dearborn  of  near-fame 
in  limericks,  the  German  nobleman,  the  Canadian  of- 
ficer, and  a  baker's  dozen  of  less  aggressive  and  per- 
sistent hopefuls  were  as  near  her  as  money  and  activity 
could  place  them. 

Not  one  in  all  the  inventory  had  been  permitted, 
since  the  night  of  the  Horse  Show,  so  to  ingratiate 
himself  with  Alice  as  to  have  five  whole  minutes  alone 
with  her  monarchical  little  charge.  The  pent-up  vol- 
canics  between  them  were  therefore  bordering  on  a  state 
of  eruption  and  counter  eruption  more  or  less  menacing 
to  each. 

This  particular  night  afforded  scant  if  any  oppor- 
tunity, even  to  the  most  sagacious,  to  steal  a  march 
upon  his  fellow  conspirators.  Thurley  was,  as  it  were, 
equally  divided  among  them  all,  a  fact  affording  in- 
tense, if  only  temporary,  gratification  to  at  least  one 
little  creature,  Mildred  Gray,  who  could  almost  have 
torn  the  "  Princess  "  to  shreds  for  having  cast  her  spell, 
all  unwittingly,  upon  the  Willie  Stetson  elsewhere  men- 
tioned. 

But  that  night  inaugurated  changes.  It  ignited  all 
the  glare  and  incense  6f  the  social  ritual,  casting  a 
blinding  refulgence  and  an  intoxicating  fragrance  of 
narcotic  essences  through  all  the  gilded  halls  of  pleas- 
ure. And  it  struck  into  being  in  Thurley  Ruxton's 
nature  a  tiny  spark  of  wanton  joy  in  her  power  —  a 
spark  that  has  burned  the  heart  of  many  of  her  sex  to 
a  cold,  black  crisp  at  last. 

Something  had  echoed  in  her  overflattered  self  the 
mad  desire  for  wealth,  position,  and  power  that  had 
steeled  her  resolve  when  Gaillard  threw  her  off,  that 
far-back  night  in  New  Haven.  It  would  be  so  good  to 


A  TRIUMPH  AND  A  JAR  97 

retaliate,  to  flirt  with  the  men,  to  urge  them  on,  to  play 
upon  their  fondest  dreams  and  hopes,  only  to  crush 
them  at  the  end!  It  would  salve  so  thoroughly  the 
wounds  Acton  Gaillard  had  made  in  her  heart  to  treat 
all  his  kind  as  he  had  treated  her,  as  hundreds  of  his  ilk 
were  daily  treating  the  college  widows  of  her  town! 

She  felt  as  if  righteous  indignation  might  almost 
have  been  delegated  to  herself  from  all  college  widows 
—  power  to  punish  for  the  punishments  that  scores  and 
hundreds  had  endured.  The  power  was  hers  at  last! 
Without  a  realizing  sense  of  all  that  was  occurring,  she 
had  achieved  at  a  bound  that  very  position  she  had  cov- 
eted so  intensely,  and  resolved  to  have,  on  the  night  of 
her  anguish  and  her  utter  mortification. 

She  did  not  actually  resolve  to  assume  the  grim  role 
of  Nemesis  to  all  the  moths  already  drawn  to  her  light ; 
for  a  certain  heartlessness  in  such  deliberate  intent  was 
more  or  less  impossible  to  her  nature.  She  did,  how- 
ever, breathe  fire  and  excitement  in  the  consciousness 
of  mighty  power  laid  almost  unbidden  in  her  grasp. 
Moreover,  she  had  promised  Alice  Van  Kirk  that  she 
would  not  permit  her  heart  to  become  seriously  entan- 
gled for  a  year.  If  the  men  would  come,  —  many  of 
them  insincere,  self  seeking,  and  scheming,  —  they  could 
scarcely  be  so  defenseless  and  trusting  as  she  had  one 
time  been.  The  hour  and  the  world  had  been  laid  at 
her  feet  —  and  the  thought  made  her  drunk  with  de- 
light. 

She  thought  of  half  a  dozen  men  at  once  with  whom 
a  tilt  at  the  game  of  hearts  would  be  only  harmless 
diversion.  She  could  not  shut  them  from  her  life,  nor 
think  of  them  seriously  for  half  a  moment.  She  men- 
tally bunched  them  like  asparagus,  and  tied  them  about 


98  THURLEY  RUXTON 

the  waist.  There  was  one,  however,  not  included,  either 
in  the  group  of  vegetable  sprouts  or  her  half  formed 
intent  to  enjoy  her  wondrous  power. 

The  one  was  Robley  Stuyverant,  somewhat  sacredly 
set  apart.  She  told  herself  it  was  merely  for  his  wrist 
that  he  must  be  spared ;  but  the  hour  of  their  meeting 
and  the  way  thereof  was  rarely  absent  from  her 
thoughts. 

To-night  as  the  theme  of  the  music  and  the  play  en- 
twined a  spell  of  tenderness,  romance,  and  exultation 
with  her  thoughts,  she  could  not  surrender  to  a  mere 
desire  to  exercise  a  selfish  motive.  Dreams  of  her  past, 
some  old,  some  as  new  as  the  hour  in  which  she  drove 
Stuyverant's  car,  crept  subtly  to  her  heart  and  kindled 
a  glow  as  sweetly  wholesome  as  the  fire  on  a  homely 
hearth. 

The  hour  was  one  not  soon  to  be  repeated,  where  she 
hovered  like  a  girl  emerging  from  the  trust  and  inno- 
cence of  youth  to  woman's  conception  of  the  world.  In 
it  were  mingled  all  her  old  unworldliness  and  a  dawning 
appreciation  of  the  sovereignty  thus  magically  be- 
stowed upon  her  being.  She  loved  her  new-made-power 
intensely.  She  loved  the  elegance,  comfort,  and  beauty 
made  possible  by  the  life  into  which,  in  the  argosy  of 
fate,  she  had  drifted  thus  incredibly. 

There  was  one  thing  missing  only,  —  someone  to 
whom  to  tell  it  all,  someone  dear  enough  and  near 
enough  to  share  her  joy  and  the  wonder  of  such  an  oc- 
currence, someone  whom  mutual  trust  and  love  would 
single  out  for  such  a  comradeship  that  all  they  knew 
and  felt  and  hoped  must  forever  be  divided  between 
them. 

The  ghost  of  Gaillard  strayed  like  a  mist  through  the 


A  TRIUMPH  AND  A  JAR  99 

glowing  halls  of  her  thought.  He  and  she  had  once 
been  so  near  this  very  sort  of  partnership  and  trust ! 
A  pang  and  another  recurrence  of  her  growing  desire 
to  repay  his  kind  succeeded  her  momentary  longing. 
And  then  her  gaze,  which  had  focused  for  a  moment  on 
the  vagueness  of  dreams,  swung  out  across  the  brilliant 
scene  presented  by  the  audience,  and  met  the  watchful 
eyes  of  Robley  Stuyverant,  seated  near-by  in  a  box. 

A  quaint  little  exultation  leaped  in  her  heart,  at  the 
sheer  audacity  and  boldness  of  love  encountered  in  his 
glance.  It  swept  her  for  a  moment  away  with  himself 
to  a  car  in  the  open  park.  Then  she  cast  off  the  charm 
as  she  might  have  cast  a  chain,  the  links  of  which, 
though  golden,  lustrous,  and  light  to  bear,  she  would 
not  consent  to  lock  upon  her  arms. 

From  box  to  box  her  eager  attention  sped,  lingering 
here  and  there  on  the  brilliant  iridescence  of  diamonds 
and  pearls  that  flashed  from  necklaces,  tiaras,  and  even 
coronets,  where  women  gowned  in  bewildering  richness 
and  beauty  vied  with  one  another  in  display.  And 
then,  as  before,  sheer  ravishment  of  melody  —  where 
the  blended  perfections  of  the  orchestration  uttered  the 
joys  and  anguishes  of  souls  at  the  brink  of  climax  — 
caught  up  her  soul,  and  she  was  wafted  out  on  an 
azure  sea  where  nothing  of  earth  could  exist. 

She  was  never  able  clearly  to  recall  the  kaleidoscopic 
panorama  of  sensations  and  emotions  suggested,  pre- 
sented, and  withdrawn  that  wonderful  night,  her  first 
of  the  kind,  which  could  never  be  repeated.  She  touched 
the  heights  of  ecstasy  and  was  floating  blindly  across 
the  abyss  that  yawned  below.  She  realized  a  little  of 
the  triumph  that  she  herself  had  achieved.  For  the 
greater  part,  however,  it  was  all  a  blur  of  pleasure  as 


100  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

dazzling  and  indefinite  as  the  sun  brightly  flashing  in 
a  mist. 

Not  even  the  wondrous  supper  afterward  made  a 
clean  cut  impression  on  her  mind;  except  that  it,  like 
all  the  rest,  was  perfect  in  its  way,  with  more  bright 
music,  people,  joy,  and  irresponsibility. 

The  one  thing  of  the  night  destined  to  remain  pe- 
culiarly vivid  came  last  of  all,  in  her  own  boudoir,  when 
she  was  once  more  at  home.  It  was  merely  a  letter  — 
from  the  cousin  she  had  seen  by  the  rail  at  the  Horse 
Show  from  her  height  above  the  crowd.  It  had  been 
to  New  Haven,  then  to  the  office  of  Major  Phipps,  who 
had  brought  it  here  himself. 

With  something  akin  to  a  chill  at  her  heart,  Thurley 
opened  and  read  the  missive.  It  was  brief,  a  mere  re- 
cital of  the  fact  that  the  cousin  had  recently  seen  some- 
one who  reminded  her  so  much  of  her  one  remaining 
relative  that  she  had  to  sit  down  and  write.  If  Thur- 
ley was  living  anywhere  within  reach,  and  received  this 
letter,  perhaps  they  could  meet. 

"  I  am  a  little  discouraged  and  lonesome,"  the  letter 
presently  concluded,  "  and  I'm  sure  it  would  do  me  good 
to  see  you  once  again.  I  often  think  of  you  as  the 
only  real  cheer  I  have  had  in  many  years.  I  hope  this 
may  find  you  and  sufficiently  arouse  your  former  affec- 
tion to  make  you  wish  to  write  at  once  and  arrange  a 
possible  meeting  with  your  fond  and  faithful  cousin, 
EDITH  STECK." 

To  Thurley's  own  amazement,  she  could  not,  or  did 
not  immediately  decide  what  course  she  should  adopt. 
For  two  or  three  days  the  matter  drifted ;  but  Thurley 
did  not  forget. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE    FLAW    IN    THE    GEM 

HAD  one  more  element  of  excitement  been  required  to 
render  the  situation  breathless  with  possibilities,  it  was 
supplied  on  the  night  of  the  Junior  Chrysanthemum 
Ball,  which  opened  the  season  of  dancing  at  one  of  the 
great  Fifth  Avenue  hotels. 

The  New  York  Evening  Star,  in  its  final  edition, 
came  out  with  a  redly  blazoned  story,  announcing  not 
only  that  Princess  Thirvinia  was  now  well  known  to.be 
disporting  herself  with  royal  grace  in  Gotham,  but  that 
recent  telegraphic  and  cable  intelligence  had  estab- 
lished the  fact  that  she  had  practically  run  away  from 
her  Kingdom,  with  intent  to  make  an  American  al- 
liance that  should  be  prompted  solely  by  her  heart. 

This  was  not  all.  Her  fiance,  of  the  blood  royal,  no 
less  a  person  than  the  Duke  of  Saxe  Hertze  and  Heimer, 
reported  intensely  fond  of  her  Ladyship  and  greatly 
afflicted  by  her  new  adventure  and  this  manifestation  of 
her  headstrong  nature,  had  likewise  disappeared  from 
the  Kingdom  of  Hertzegotha.  And  his  absence,  to- 
gether with  that  of  the  Princess,  was  causing  grave  un- 
easiness at  the  royal  court,  despite  obvious  efforts  to 
conceal  the  truth  of  the  rumors. 

An  intensified  thrill  and  tingle  shot  along  the  deli- 
cate nerves  that  articulate  all  swelldom,  as  this  newest 
sensation  was  devoured.  At  twenty  dinners  that  pre- 
101 


102  THURLEY  RUXTON 

ceded  the  dance  —  marvelous  little  functions  of  bril- 
liance and  charm  —  the  topic  was  all  of  Princess  Thir- 
vinia  nlasquerading  at  Alice  Van  Kirk's. 

New  hope  had  instantly  arisen,  not  only  in  the 
breasts  of  the  eligible  men,  both  young  and  old,  but  as 
well  in  the  visions  of  fond  and  planning  mothers,  for 
whose  sons  their  ambitions  soared,  if  possible,  beyond 
even  the  pearly  gates.  Heretofore  only  vague  wonder 
as  to  what  the  visit  of  the  Princess  might  imply  had 
been  practicable.  Information  that  she  had  come  to 
America  seeking  a  mate  of  her  heart  inflamed  the  wild- 
est aspirations. 

By  nine  o'clock  an  astonishing  number  of  the  guests 
were  present  at  the  decorated  ballroom,  which  art  and 
expense  had  converted  into  a  veritable  bower  of  roses 
and  orchids.  Never  had  the  arrivals  been  so  prompt  or 
the  feeling  in  the  air  so  electrically  charged. 

At  half-past  nine  Alice  and  Thurley  appeared  — 
and  the  palpitant  sensations  increased.  Thurley  had 
never  been  more  radiant  or  winning.  From  her  ex- 
quisitely arched  little  feet  to  the  trembling  diamond 
in  her  hair,  she  was  the  daintiest  possible  embodiment 
of  loveliness.  A  rose  might,  indeed,  have  chosen  her  to 
be  its  own  ambassador,  to  carry  its  fragrance,  its 
wine-warm  color,  and  its  irresistible  appeal  to  the  Court 
of  Beauty's  final  judgment. 

New  jewels,  of  her  own  selection,  reposed  on  the  vel- 
vet of  her  neck.  It  was  that  they  were  made  more 
lovely  by  their  association  with  herself,  not  she  that 
was  beautified  by  them.  A  new  inspiration  of  a  gossa- 
mer gown,  cut  modestly  low  and  molded  in  perfection 
on  her  lithe  and  rounded  figure,  and  apparently  a  new 
mood  of  brightness  in  her  eyes  and  heart,  combined  to 


THE  FLAW  IN  THE  GEM  103 

create  a  gasp  of  ecstasy  and  envy  on  the  lips  of  every 
woman  who  beheld  her  and  to  set  the  hearts  of  all  the 
men  aflame. 

She  and  Alice  were  immediately  besieged.  It  seemed 
as  if  all  men  in  the  place  were  determined  to  be  first  at 
her  side.  In  the  palmroom,  in  the  fernery,  and  in  the 
ballroom  proper,  vexed  girls  were  deserted  in  droves. 
Poor  little  Mildred  Gray,  who  had  witnessed  Willie 
Stetson's  eager  and  helpless  homage  to  the  "  Princess  " 
before,  was  already  pent  with  tears  and  indignation. 
There  was  one  consolation  only  to  bevies  of  sweet, 
pretty  girl-confections,  and  this  was  that  dancing  must 
soon  begin,  and  Thurley  could  at  most  dance  with  only 
one  man  at  a  time. 

Immaculate  Harry  Bache-Stowe  led  the  grand 
march,  which  began  a  little  before  ten.  His  partner 
was  a  last-season's  beauty,  Eleanor  Atterbury  Beek- 
man.  Thurley's  lot  fell  to  Eelsey  Woods,  largely  in 
response  to  wishes  that  Alice  had  earlier  expressed. 
Kelsey,  indeed,  had  been  one  of  their  party  at  dinner, 
also  by  Alice's  design.  She  was  extracting  almost 
fiendish  delight  in  alluring  Woods  from  the  circle  of  one 
of  her  rivals  who  had  queened  it  last  season,  if  not  with 
an  iron,  at  least  with  a  golden,  rod. 

Woods  usurped  the  gladness  of  a  King.  Thistle- 
down could  scarcely  have  been  lighter  in  his  arms  as  he 
and  Thurley  moved  over  the  floor.  "  I  say,"  said  he  in 
his  candid  fashion,  "  you've  translated  beauty  into  this 
sort  of  thing,  you  know.  What  do  you  think  such 
riding  and  dancing  must  do  to  a  fellow's  heart?  " 

Thurley  smiled  in  his  eyes.  "  But  I  ride  on  a 
horse  and  dance  on  the  floor.  A  heart  wouldn't  be  at 
all  appropriate  for  either." 


104.  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  Nevertheless,"  he  declared,  "  mine  is  beneath  your 
feet." 

"  Oh!     Isn't  it  hard  and  nicely  polished?  " 

He  tried  again.  "  Couldn't  we  ride  a  bit  together 
soon?  I  sha'n't  be  real  happy  till  we  do." 

"  I'm  sorry  this  dance  makes  you  so  miserable,"  she 
answered.  "  Cheer  up,  it  will  soon  be  over." 

"  You  do  chaff  a  fellow,"  he  murmured  with  a  grin ; 
"  but  you  haven't  answered  about  the  riding.  You've 
no  idea  how  much  it  would  please  me." 

Again  she  smiled.  "  Is  it  my  duty  to  keep  big  boys 
amused?  " 

"  I  say,"  he  demanded  desperately,  "  will  you  go 
riding  with  me?  Yes  or  no !  " 

Her  eyes  burned  brighter.     "  Perhaps." 

"Oh,  Lord,"  he  said.  "Well,  at  least  you  are 
dancing  with  me  now.  That's  something." 

"  But  not  much,"  she  added. 

"  I  adore  it,  'pon  my  honor,"  he  breathed  ardently ; 
"  but  I'm  a  silly  ass !  " 

"  You  are  very  frank."  She  was  enormously  amused 
at  his  blunders. 

He  flushed  to  the  tips  of  his  ears.  "  I  mean  in  the 
things  I  say  —  the  way  I  say  them  —  the  way  they 
sound.  Confound  it !  May  not  a  dunce  mean  what  he 
says?  I'm  in  a  bally  mix,  you  know.  Reversion 
to  my  English  schooling.  I  do  that  sort  of  thing 
with  exasperating  regularity;  but  I'm  really  not 
so  stupid  as  I  seem.  Fact.  And  I  do  adore  this 
dance  with  you,  Miss  Thurley.  In  fact,  I  —  I  —  " 

"  Don't  spoil  the  explanation,  please,"  she  inter- 
rupted. "  I  think  I  understand  it  fully." 

Tenacity  was  one  of  his  properties.     He  looked  in 


THE  FLAW  IN  THE  GEM  105 

her  eyes.  "  Shall  we  say  to-morrow  afternoon,  then, 
for  a  dash  in  the  park?  " 

"  Not  to-morrow  afternoon." 

"Will  you  seta  day?" 

"Will  you  abide  by  my  selection?" 

"  Absolutely !  "  He  was  all  but  trembling  with  ex- 
citement and  joy. 

She  was  quite  grave.  "  Well,  then  —  say  we  ride  on 
Judgment  Day,  about  three  in  the  afternoon  —  unless 
it  rains." 

He  groaned.  "  I  know  what  it  means.  You  have 
never  forgiven  my  bally  interference.  But  your  horse 
was  running  away." 

She  was  instantly  serious.  "  Oh,  indeed,  Mr.  Woods, 
I  thoroughly  appreciated  your  splendid  intention.  It 
was  splendid.  And  your  horse  must  be  superbly  swift." 

His  pleasure  returned  like  a  homing  pigeon.  "  Will 
you  accept  him,  Miss  Thurley,  as  a  gift?  " 

"  Oh,  dear  me,  no !  "  she  answered  girlishly.  "  I 
couldn't  possibly  ride  two  at  once,  and  I  shouldn't 
think  of  surrendering  Cataract  —  my  '  wild  Cataract 
that  leaps  in  glory.'  I  think  we  could  beat  you  in  a 
race." 

A  hope  was  flashed  on  his  mind.     "  Will  you  try  ?  " 

"  Yes,  on  Judgment  Day  —  at  three." 

The  music  ceased.  The  evening  had  begun.  It  be- 
came another  of  the  triumphs  that  Thurley  made  no 
effort  to  achieve.  It  was  a  brilliant,  intoxicating  con- 
clave of  the  goddesses  of  Music,  Beauty,  and  Motion. 
On  the  breath  of  perfume  and  the  wave  of  rhythm  all 
manner  of  love  crept  subtly  forth,  the  passionate  with 
the  tender,  the  bold  with  the  timid,  the  selfish  with  the 
pure.  Youths  and  men,  the  eager  swains  who  were 


106  THURLEY  RUXTON 

granted  the  ecstasy  of  holding  Thurley  in  their  arms 
for  a  brief,  bewildering  rotation  in  the  maze  of  the  mu- 
sic's spell,  succumbed  both  with  and  against  their  wills 
to  the  magic  of  her  personality. 

Stuyverant  was  there.  He  was  miserable  and  ex- 
uberant together,  consumed  with  impatience  and  de- 
spair, as  he  watched  her  dancing  with  and  smiling  upon 
her  various  partners,  and  vibrant  with  rapture  when  she 
spent  a  moment  at  his  side.  He  was  not  dancing. 
With  his  right  arm  suspended  in  a  sling  the  feat  was 
awkward  to  extinction.  But  Thurley  had  granted  him 
one  of  her  numbers,  which  he  meant  to  spend  in  the 
fernery,  apart  from  the  dazzle  of  the  ballroom  and  the 
insistence  of  the  music. 

Meantime  for  Thurley  the  one  particular  variant 
of  the  evening  was  supplied  in  the  various  speeches  and 
devices  men  choose  to  divulge  sudden  love.  There  was 
a  certain  eloquence  in  awkward  feet,  as  well  as  in  a 
stammered  speech  or  an  all  revealing  glance.  With 
each  and  every  supplicant  she  smiled  and  exchanged 
bright  froths  of  nothingness.  It  was  not  altogether 
amusing,  except  as  a  clever  fencer  is  amused  at  the 
thrusts  and  attacks  of  a  round  of  antagonists,  a  few 
either  clever  or  diabolical,  but  the  many  slow,  uncertain, 
and  unskilled. 

She  danced  and  fenced  with  Willie  Stetson  —  and 
found  him  merely  an  overeager  boy  whose  one  idea  was 
to  take  her  for  a  drive,  at  any  hour  she  liked,  to  any 
place  she  preferred,  and  in  any  sort  of  conveyance  of 
her  whim.  There  could  be  no  doubt  of  his  purblind 
adoration.  His  very  knees  were  aching  for  contact  with 
the  floor  anywhere  about  her  feet. 

Another  of  her  more  or  less  puplike  idolaters  was 


THE  FLAW  IN  THE  GEM  107 

Algy  Dearborn,  bitten  by  the  malignant  germ  that  in- 
cites its  victim  to  the  perpetration  of  limericks.  He 
held  her  in  enginelike  embrace  and  cranked  all  over  the 
floor,  abandoning  his  trolley,  so  to  speak,  with  cheerful 
and  insistent  disregard,  and  thereby  colliding  with 
everyone  remotely  adjacent. 

"You're  an  awful  jolly  good  dancer,"  he  imparted 
delightedly.  "  I  can  really  dance  myself  when  I  have 
such  a  partner  as  you." 

Thurley  assumed  her  gravest  expression.  "  Perhaps 
I  can  get  you  one  somewhere." 

"What  for?"  he  inquired  in  all  earnestness.  "Am 
I  not  dancing  with  you  ?  " 

"  We  are  getting  around,"  said  Thurley,  "  fa- 
mously." 

"  Do  you  know,"  he  continued,  as  pleased  as  Punch, 
"  you've  inspired  me  like  the  dickens.  I  wrote  a  new 
poem  that  very  first  day  we  met." 

"  Why  —  how  complimentary !  " 

"  Wait  till  you  hear  it.     Want  to?  " 

"  I  am  dying  with  impatience  —  or  something." 
Her  eyes  looked  very  much  alive. 

He  cranked  about  and  nearly  telescoped  a  fellow 
dancer's  face  with  his  shoulder  blade  driving  for  an 
opening  in  which  to  utter  his  gem. 

"  It's  real  short,"  he  said  regretfully ;  "  but  I  think 
it  rather  above  my  average.  If  I  can  remember  it 
right  —  oh,  yes,  it  goes  like  this : 

"  A  mouse  with  a  fine  sense  of  humour 
Said,  '  Oh  the  ridiculous  rumour 
That  women  have  spunk ! ' 
And,  gee!  what  a  funk 
When  he  nibbled  a  suffragette  boomer! 


108  THURLEY  RUXTON 

Rather  neat,  I  think,  and  right  to  the  point.  There's 
another  working  in  me  now.  Do  you  know,  Miss 
Thurley,  I  believe  you  are  going  to  give  my  particu- 
lar genius  more  inspiration  than  anyone  I've  ever 
met?  " 

Thurley  smiled  divinely.  "  Is  there  anyone  who 
might  possibly  give  your  genius  a  coup  de  grace?  " 

"Why,  I  don't  know.     I  hope  not.     Why?  " 

"  One  can  never  tell  what  may  happen.  Some  beings 
have  such  an  erratic  frenzy  for  usefulness." 

"Yes,  haven't  they?  "  said  Algy,  a  trifle  hazy  as  to 
what  her  observations  might  imply.  "  But  I  think  I've 
got  such  a  grip  on  the  muse  that  she  isn't  likely  to  get 
away." 

Thurley's  sympathy  with  the  muse  was  heightened 
as  he  closed  his  iron  levers  yet  more  rigidly  about  her. 
He  continued  with  his  declarations  of  her  usefulness 
to  his  inspiration  and  otherwise  revealed  his  honest,  if 
somewhat  ponderous,  sense  of  adoration.  And  then 
that  dance  was  happily  ended  and  Count  Fiaschi  suc- 
ceeded to  his  place. 

The  Count  had  been  accumulating  the  lavas  and 
heats  of  his  nature,  in  his  accustomed  Vesuvian  style, 
for  several  days.  He  had  fretted  in  apprehensive  im- 
patience every  hour  since  last  he  had  been  permitted 
a  word  with  Thurley  alone.  He  was  intensely  excited 
now  by  the  prospect  of  taking  her  all  to  himself  into 
the  added  intoxication  of  the  waltz. 

"  Valgame  Dios! "  he  breathed  to  her  rapturously. 
"  I  am  more  favored  than  the  tropics !  My  heart  is 
more  making  tumult  than  the  seas !  It  is  the  glory  of 
you,  so  long  by  me  sought !  It  is  my  reward  for  devo- 
tion, burning  forever  like  the  altar  lamp  not  to  be  ex- 


THE  FLAW  IN  THE  GEM  109 

tinguished!  Ah!  to  quench  a  little  of  that  burning 
thirst  which  my  heart  have  blister!  It  is  the  sea  of 
ecstasy  shall  enfold  me !  " 

Thurley  knew  not  whether  to  be  amused  or  alarmed 
at  his  attitude  and  utterance.  His  eyes  were  cer- 
tainly blazing  with  something  that  was  not  altogether 
comfortable,  and  beneath  the  handsome  olive  smooth- 
ness of  his  complexion  surged  a  color  that  played  like 
moving  flame.  Much  of  his  ardor  she  felt  inclined  to 
ascribe  to  the  habit  of  his  mind.  Nevertheless,  she  had 
much  rather  have  it  diffused  in  a  company,  she  thought, 
than  cope  with  it  thus  alone. 

She  could  adopt  only  her  ordinary  tactics,  a  smile 
and  a  quip  to  meet  his  phrases.  "  Are  you  not  afraid 
to  mix  your  metaphors  so  recklessly? "  she  asked. 
"  Might  not  the  sea  you  mentioned  engulf  the  lamp?  " 

"  Ah !  Even  so  !  I  have  yet  another  lamp  —  more 
seas  —  more  everything !  It  is  my  nature !  With  my 
love  I  will  wither  that  sea !  The  rosebud  shall  blossom 
—  now,  now !  —  at  the  touch  of  this  sunshine,  this 
glory  of  my  love !  This  music  —  ah ;  nothing  —  one 
pulsation  of  my  heart!  This  dance  with  you — my 
soul  —  " 

He  was  destined  never  to  conclude  the  rhapsody. 
Algy  Dearborn,  cranking  by,  and  repeating  his  mouse- 
bitten  limerick,  jolted  the  ribs,  heart,  wind,  and  seat  of 
volcanics  in  the  Count's  anatomy  with  a  contact  so 
violent  that  immediate  recovery  was  impractical.  The 
Count  ceased  emptying  and  dancing.  They  walked. 

Thurley's  friendship  went  out  to  the  gripper  of 
the  muse  forthwith. 

"  Oh,  mustn't  football  be  splendid  when  the  right 
people  play?"  she  said  with  less  irrelevance  than 


110  THUBJLEY  RUXTON 

Fiaschi  might  have  imagined.  "  Interference  is  such  an 
unexpected  art ! " 

"  Not  here !  "  he  answered  emphatically. 

He  took  her  again  in  the  circle  of  his  arm  and  re- 
sumed a  somewhat  less  soul-levitating  locomotion.  For 
a  minute  or  more  he  was  content  to  accumulate  breath 
and  scattered  senses.  But  he  was  guiding  Thurley 
with  new  intent  along  the  edge  of  the  room,  toward  the 
more  sequestered  fernery,  where  at  times  a  couple,  de- 
tached from  the  assemblage  of  dancers,  took  a  turn  for 
a  moment  alone. 

"  Perhaps  football  would  be  inappropriate  here," 
Thurley  agreed  innocently ;  "  but  I  should  be  delighted 
to  see  you  in  a  game." 

"  Football  —  ah !  "  he  answered,  slightly  shrugging 
his  shoulders.  "  A  game  for  mere  animals !  It  lacks 
finesse ! " 

"  But  not  finish,"  said  Thurley.  "  Some  people  like 
it  for  that." 

"  But  the  game  par  excellence  —  Ah !  love  —  love ! 
It  is  here  you  shall  better  wish  to  see  me!  The  white 
heat  of  my  soul  —  the  fire  of  divine  in  the  blood  —  the 
beautiful  madness  of  adoration!  Ah!  to  know  this  in- 
tensity —  to  shame  the  winds  —  to  soar  upon  the  whirl- 
wind—  to  outdistance  the  star  with  the  deeps,  the  ex- 
panses, of  love! " 

"Wouldn't  that  be  a  long  way  out  and  lonely?" 
asked  Thurley  gravely.  "  Closer  in  shore  is  just  as 
comfortable  and  there's  a  jolly  crowd." 

He  looked  in  her  eyes  in  his  fiery  fashion.  "  You  do 
not  understand,"  he  said,  to  mask  his  own  noncompre- 
hension  of  her  answer.  "  Ah !  but  you  shall  —  divinity 
—  the  marvel  of  your  being  —  this  shall  understand !  " 


With  all  her  strength  she  cast  him  backward. 

-Page  111 


THE  FLAW  IN  THE  GEM  111 

He  had  managed,  not  without  skill  and  adroitness, 
to  pilot  her  quite  to  the  farther  end  of  the  fernery, 
where  the  dimmest  glow  of  a  golden  bulb  was  softly 
diffused  in  the  shadows.  He  halted  here  and  stood,  as 
if  about  to  resume  the  dance,  with  his  arm  about  her 
waist.  His  face  had  paled  with  intensified  excitement. 
Thurley  feared  he  might  have  been  seriously  hurt  by 
the  blow  from  Dearborn's  elbow. 

"You  are  injured!"  she  said.  "You  shouldn't  at- 
tempt —  " 

"  I  am  born  again  —  new  —  the  child  of  love !  "  he 
interrupted  abruptly,  his  voice  a  mere  murmur  of  vi- 
brant syllables.  "  It  is  ours  —  the  world,  Eden,  the 
path  of  roses,  the  grottos  of  fragrance  —  ours  for 
love  and  yet  more  love  —  my  miracle  of  beauty !  " 

He  led  her,  drew  her  unexpectedly,  into  the  dimmest 
recess  of  the  ferns  before  she  could  realize  his  inten- 
tions, resist,  or  gasp  an  astonished  protest  at  what  he 
was  saying. 

"  Adored !  Divinity !  Essence  of  my  soul ! "  he 
added  in  the  madness  of  his  passion,  and,  drawing  her 
closer,  still  helpless  from  the  unexpectedness  of  the 
whole  affair,  he  attempted  to  kiss  her  on  the  lips. 

She  was  instantly  struggling,  incensed,  and  fright- 
ened. She  avoided  the  contact,  loathed  by  all  her  be- 
ing ;  yet  he  kissed  her  once  on  the  burning  curve  of  her 
cheek  before  she  could  thrust  him  away. 

"Count  Fiaschi!"  she  cried.     "Oh,  the  shame  —  " 

"  But  God !  My  love !  "  he  answered  wildly,  attempt- 
ing to  still  her  struggles.  "  Princess,  my  love !  You 
must  discover !  You  —  " 

With  all  her  fine  young  strength  she  cast  him  back- 
ward. He  all  but  fell  against  a  monster  jardiniere 


112  THURLEY  RUXTON 

and  broke  a  frond  from  the  fern  it  held  in  recovering 
his  balance. 

Thurley  started  at  once  for  the  door  that  led  to  the 
lighted  hall  beyond.  The  music  had  ceased.  She  al- 
most collided  with  a  man  dimly  seen  through  blurring 
tears  of  anger.  It  was  Robley  Stuyverant. 

"  Miss  Thurley,"  he  said,  "  may  I  claim  —  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  take  me  out  —  please  —  anywhere !  "  she 
interrupted,  struggling  desperately  to  conceal  her  agi- 
tation. "  The  warmth  —  perhaps  I  have  danced  too 
hard." 

She  took  his  arm,  her  strength  fairly  wilting  as  she 
felt  the  sense  of  his  protecting  presence.  She  did  not 
look  where  the  Count  had  recovered  both  his  balance 
and  his  wits.  He  dared  step  actively  forward. 

"  But,  Mademoiselle  Thurley,  shall  it  not  be  my  priv- 
ilege to  return  you  to  Madame  Van  Kirk?  " 

His  very  effrontery  revitalized  her  poise  and  self 
control.  "  Thank  you,  Count  Fiaschi ;  it  will  not  be 
necessary  now."  She  bowed,  and  even  smiled,  as  Stuy- 
verant urged  her  gently  forward. 

Then  at  the  entrance  to  the  larger  room  she  received 
a  second  staggering  shock  to  nerves  already  tingling. 
A  tall,  athletic  figure  had  appeared  in  the  lighted 
frame  of  the  arch  and  halted  to  stand  aside,  that  she 
and  Stuyverant  might  pass. 

It  was  Acton  Gaillard,  and  his  startled  glance  was 
fixed  on  Thurley's  face  as  if  he  had  seen  an  apparition. 

For  one  brief  second  her  eyes  encountered  his,  too 
amazed  to  betray  recognition.  Then,  demanding  the 
utmost  of  her  shaken  strength,  she  continued  past  him 
coldly,  while  he  as  rigidly  passed  within  to  conclude  a 
search  for  Fiaschi. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

BOOTS   TO   TREMBLE  IN 

STUYVERANT  felt,  rather  than  knew,  that  Thin-ley  had 
been  uncommonly  perturbed.  He  had  only  seen  the 
Count  half  falling  from  her  side,  as  he  clutched  at  the 
fern  for  support.  Why  he  had  done  such  a  thing  as 
intrude  where  Fiaschi  had  guided  the  "  Princess  "  was 
more  than  he  felt  he  could  explain. 

He  had  merely  obeyed  an  impulse,  since  neither  envy 
nor  jealousy,  had  they  been  his  portion,  could  have 
forced  such  action  upon  him.  The  ensuing  dance  was 
his  and  Thurley's,  to  be  chatted  out,  he  had  told  her, 
making  an  eloquent  gesture  with  his  injured  arm,  by 
way  of  denoting  his  uselessness  in  a  waltz. 

Now,  as  they  moved  across  the  floor,  he  had  a  subtle 
comprehension  of  her  disturbed  condition.  He  attrib- 
uted everything  to  Fiaschi,  whom  he  hated  thoroughly. 
He  hoped  the  Count  had  betrayed  himself  so  com- 
pletely as  to  be  an  eliminated  factor  in  Thurley's  exist- 
ence. He  could  not  ask  her  what  had  occurred,  and  he 
could  not  know  that  the  sight  of  Acton  Gaillard,  more 
than  the  abominations  of  Fiaschi,  had  wrought  upon 
the  girl  at  his  side  to  humble  her  splendid  equipoise. 

Thurley,  for  her  part,  was  excited  to  a  new  intensity 
of  agitation.  What  it  might  signify  thus  to  have 
Gaillard  drift  once  more  across  her  orbit  was  more  than 
she  dared  conjecture.  They  could  not  help  but  meet. 
Wild  dreams  of  denying  her  former  identity  flashed 

113 


114.  THURLEY  RUXTON 

for  a  moment  on  her  thought,  only  to  be  dismissed  at 
once  as  utterly  preposterous.  Gaillard  was  not  the 
sort  of  man  to  be  tricked  or  deceived  for  half  a  minute 
by  any  device  so  childish.  What  he  would  do  when 
everyone  about  him  in  the  social  world  was  diligently 
advertising  her  as  Princess  Thirvinia  was  the  inquiry 
haunting  her  reflections.  Should  he  take  the  pains  to 
declare  the  truth  and  reveal  her  humble  origin,  the  dis- 
aster to  herself  and  Alice  would  be  appalling. 

What  would  or  could  Alice  do  in  such  eventuality? 
Could  she  still  continue  her  friendship,  her  support,  her 
exploiting  care  and  expenditures?  Or  would  she  not, 
in  self  defense,  be  obliged  to  repudiate  the  whole  affair 
and  charge  that  she  herself  had  been  defrauded? 

Stuyverant  was  talking,  trying  to  start  a  conversa- 
tion, trying  to  lead  her  away  to  the  quiet  retreat  of  the 
palmroom  beyond.  She  could  not  listen.  She  heard 
as  one  in  a  dream.  The  wondrous  butterfly  existence 
on  which  she  was  barely  launched  seemed  about  to  fade 
away.  It  was  only  a  bit  of  Cinderella  magic,  after  all. 
And  she  loved  it  so!  It  had  been  so  absolutely  joyous ! 
Its  promise  had  been  so  golden  and  so  sweet !  f 

In  that  bewildering  moment  she  was  fearfully 
tempted.  She  could  meet  Acton  Gaillard,  here,  soon, 
within  the  hour,  and  throw  herself  upon  his  mercy,  tell 
him  all,  beg  him  to  aid  her  in  "her  harmless  little  pre- 
tense. After  all,  she  was  not  pretending  much.  She 
was  merely  permitting  a  foolish  world  to  make  her  a 
runaway  Princess.  What  could  it  possibly  advantage 
him  to  reveal  her  as  his  castaway,  a  college  widow  left 
on  the  strand  to  continue  the  humblest  of  teaching? 

He  might  exact  some  sort  of  price  for  the  silence  she 
desired.  Perhaps  she  might  meet  it  were  it  not  too 


BOOTS  TO  TREMBLE  IN  115 

high,  and  not  even  Alice  be  made  aware  of  the  bargain. 
The  possibility  was  tremendously  exciting.  He  had 
once  been  more  than  merely  a  friend.  If  by  any 
chance  he  might  be  excited  to  love  her  anew,  if  her 
present  position  and  all  the  rest  might  dazzle,  in- 
fatuate — 

Her  senses  whirled  with  chaotic  possibilities  and  the 
blinding  glare  of  temptation.  How  deep  and  cogent 
her  temptation  was  she  could  scarcely  have  measured 
herself.  It  was  terrible,  so  great  was  her  wish  to  con- 
tinue as  she  was,  so  abhorrent  was  the  thought  of  being 
utterly  dethroned,  stripped  of  her  finery  and  momentary 
power,  and  cast  down  headlong  from  this  gorgeous  ele- 
vation to  be  spurned  as  the  merest  impostor. 

She  clung  to  Stuyverant  unconsciously,  with  the  help- 
less weakness  of  a  child.  He  thrilled  as  one  receiving 
a  sacred  trust.  He  understood  sufficient  of  her  mental 
dilemma  and  oblivion  to  facts  to  realize  that  she  was 
not  precisely  herself,  that  her  dependence  on  his  arm 
was  that  of  one  distraught.  Her  trust  and  helpless- 
ness were  not  to  be  seized  and  made  his  own,  and  yet 
they  filled  his  being  with  a  pulsing  joy  that  was  worth 
the  price  of  a  kingdom. 

She  was  still  in  the  whirl  and  daze  of  a  Cinderella, 
facing  the  midnight's  fatal  stroke,  when  they  came  to 
an  isolated  bench,  sequestered  in  the  palms,  and  halted. 
This  much  Stuyverant  had  been  wholly  unable  to  re- 
sist. 

"  Shall  we  sit  here  where  the  air  is  fresher?  "  he 
said.  "  May  I  get  you  an  ice  or  something  to 
drink?" 

"  No  —  oh,  no,  thank  you,"  she  answered  at  last 
smilelessly,  looking  at  him  with  her  great  brown  eyes 


116  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

as  full  of  eager  query  as  a  child's.  "  Have  I  been 
acting  —  very  queer?"  She  sat  on  the  bench. 

"  A  bit  faint,  I  should  say,"  he  answered,  taking  the 
seat  at  her  side.  "  Perhaps  you  were  hurt,  stepped 
upon.  I  never  thought  of  that."  He  had  suddenly 
remembered  his  own  overpowering  faintness  when  his 
wrist  was  broken  in  the  park. 

She  too  must  have  harked  to  that  incident  —  and 
thereby  roused  from  the  daze  to  her  mind  that  the 
sight  of  Gaillard  had  developed. 

"  I  was  a  little  hurt,"  she  answered,  faintly  smiling 
in  his  eyes.  "  Isn't  it  odd  that  you  should  have  been 
the  one  to  come?  " 

Someway,  it  seemed  as  if  pretense  had  fallen  away, 
if  only  for  the  moment,  and  evasions  and  froths  of  con- 
versation seemed  singularly  inappropriate.  If  she 
must  be  exposed  as  a  mere  usurper  of  social  eminence, 
she  wished,  with  sudden  intensity,  to  be  as  little  guilty 
as  possible  in  the  eyes  of  this  one  man. 

The  declaration  in  his  eyes  was  startling  in  its  can- 
dor. "  It  was  a  privilege,  a  compensation,  perhaps, 
for  all  I  seem  doomed  to  surrender.  If  I  could  only 
feel  I  had  been  of  the  smallest  service,  it  would  make 
me  immeasurably  glad.  But  merely  to  force  you  to 
walk  and  talk  is  absurd  as  an  aid  to  anything.  Can't 
you  let  me  do  something  more,  get  you  something,  show 
my  willingness  —  " 

"  If  you  knew  how  good  it  is  just  to  sit  down  — 
with  a  friend,"  she  said,  "  you  would  not  insist  on 
serving  beyond  my  wishes." 

He  smiled.  "  Do  you  think  I  may  have  forgotten 
the  heavenly  relief  of  sinking  to  a  seat  and  —  giving 
up  the  wheel  to  abler  hands?  Do  you  think  I  shall 
ever  forget  a  single  instant  of  that  experience?  " 


BOOTS  TO  TREMBLE  IN  117 

It  gave  her  joy  to  reflect  in  this  hour  that  on  that 
day  he  had  seemed  to  care  a  little  for  a  strange,  im- 
pulsive girl  who  was  guilty  of  no  pretense,  a  girl  whose 
only  appeal,  if  she  made  one  at  all,  was  that  of  one 
soul  to  another.  It  was  likewise  sweet,  in  the  doubts 
and  fright  of  her  heart,  to  confess  to  herself  that  she 
had  wished  from  the  first  to  be  honest,  sincere,  and  — 
different  in  every  encounter  and  relationship  with  Rob- 
ley  Stuyverant.  She  knew  she  could  not  be  otherwise 
than  strictly  honest  with  him  now. 

"  Might  it  not  be  better,"  she  said,  with  a  little  pang 
at  her  heart,  "  to  forget  that  afternoon?  " 

"  But  why,"  he  demanded,  suddenly  a  prey  to  vague 
alarms,  even  fears  of  her  hopeless  remoteness  from  him- 
self. "  Why  forget,  when  the  Fates  themselves  ar- 
ranged the  meeting  —  invoked  their  powers  so  unex- 
pectedly —  threw  me  at  Fortune's  feet  ?  " 

"  It  might  be  better,"  she  repeated,  "  if  we  could." 

She  had  not  intended  to  add  those  final  words ;  but 
someway  her  heart  cried  out  in  protest,  as  she  half  per- 
ceived her  fairy  world  retreating  from  her  vision. 

Stuyverant  felt  some  mighty  enginery  lifting  at  his 
heart  and  a  floodgate  burst  by  pent  emotions,  till  the 
warm  tide  engulfed  his  inner  being.  "  If  we  could," 
he  murmured,  leaning  a  little  nearer  and  barely  resist- 
ing the  impulse  to  lift  her  hand  to  his  lips.  "  Perhaps 
it  might  be  better  also  for  the  fragrance  to  desert  the 
rose,  for  hope  to  withdraw  from  life.  You  have  no 
real  wish  for  these  disasters?  " 

"  Why,  no,  I  —  But  what  have  these  to  do  with  — 
anything?  " 

"  Might  there  not  have  been  something  more  lovely 
than  the  scent  of  the  rose  in  the  help  and  sympathy  you 
offered  an  unknown  fellow  being  in  the  park?  " 


118  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  It  was  nothing  —  the  least  that  anyone  could  do." 
She  was  warmly  glowing  as  she  met  his  gaze,  and  the 
thrill  in  his  pulses  increased. 

"  It  was  such  a  beautiful,  spontaneous  action  as  one 
may  not  forget,"  he  answered,  his  breath  coming  fast, 
his  eyes  aglow  with  ardor.  "  Not  an  accent  fell,  or 
hardly  a  drop  of  rain,  that  I  do  not  remember." 

She  suddenly  realized  that  she  must  check  their  wan- 
derings ;  that  she  had  permitted  him  to  stray  and  draw 
her  with  him  to  the  primrose  edge,  where  the  foothold 
was  perilously  insecure. 

"  How  is  your  wrist  ?  "  she  asked  him  earnestly.  "  It 
will  not  be  permanently  injured?  " 

He  leaned  back  and  met  her  questioning  gaze  with  a 
baffling  spark  in  his  eyes.  "  It  was  not  my  wrist  that 
received 'the  serious  blow." 

She  was  suddenly  crimson  It  was  far  too  alluring, 
far  too  soporific  to  her  senses  of  alertness,  duty,  and 
late  alarm,  this  honeyed  fragrance  of  Elysian  fields, 
where  their  two  selves  and  the  green  and  the  sky  were 
alone  in  all  the  world.  It  had  made  her  forget  even 
Gaillard,  for  a  moment,  not  to  mention  Alice,  the  dance, 
and  herself. 

"  Not  your  wrist?  "  she  echoed,  refusing  to  under- 
stand. "You  were  hurt  internally?  Have  you  seen 
a  doctor?  You  shouldn't  have  come  here  to-night!" 

He  felt  her  drifting  swiftly  back  to  a  more  conven- 
tional mood.  "  Coming  to-night  was  the  only  thing 
that  could  do  me  the  least  bit  of  good,"  he  declared. 
"  And  it  has,  as  you  may  see." 

"  Oh,  I'm  glad! "  she  replied.  "  It's  the  change  of 
air  and  scene." 

"  It  is  what  I  have  seen,"  he  answered  dryly,  even 


BOOTS  TO  TREMBLE  IN  119 

triumphantly,  referring  to  the  tender,  honest  mood  she 
had  been  betrayed  into  revealing.  "  I  shall  always  be 
far  better,  after  to-night." 

She  half  understood  him  only.  The  temptation  to 
linger  on  the  verge  was  overwhelming.  "  What  is  it 
you  have  seen  ?  " 

Again  he  leaned  a  little  closer.  "  That  the  fragrance 
will  not  desert  the  rose." 

It  baffled,  answered,  and  confused  her,  all  at  once. 
She  felt  the  tides  of  crimson  once  more  surging  to  her 
cheeks.  Gladness,  new  courage,  and  heart  happiness 
possessed  her  like  essences  of  strength  and  comfort, 
even  as  some  faint  premonition  of  impending  trial  and 
climax  shadowed  her  swiftly  moving  thoughts.  Her 
candid  nature  urged  her  toward  a  sudden,  absolute  con- 
fession of  it  all,  all  that  she  was  and  all  that  she  felt 
of  trust  and  fears ;  but  she  thought  of  Alice,  remem- 
bered her  promises,  and  determined  she  must  wait. 

"  Doesn't  the  music,  and  everything,  make  everyone 
poetic  ?  "  she  answered  smilingly.  "  Oh,  that  reminds 
me !  Will  you  take  me  to  Alice,  now  ?  " 

"  Certainly,"  he  answered,  without  moving ;  "  but 
they  are  still  dancing.  It  is  still  my  number.  Do  you 
very  much  wish  to  go  ?  " 

She  laughed.     "  Do  you  much  wish  me  to  stay  ?  " 

"  Just  a  little  more  than  anything  else  in  the  world." 

A  little  of  her  roguishness  returned.  She  rose  from 
the  bench.  "  Then  by  all  means  remain,  and  I  will  go 
alone,  and  both  our  wishes  will  be  granted." 

He  could  not  have  repressed  his  smile,  despite  his 
disappointment.  "  If  witches  had  not  been  abolished 
by  law,"  he  said,  "  some  of  us  would  tremble  in  our 
boots." 


120  THURLEY  RUXTON 

She  was  facing  her  Cinderella  hour  in  the  moment 
she  started  for  the  larger  room,  where  Gaillard  would 
doubtless  be  encountered. 

"  Think  of  the  luck  of  having  boots  to  tremble  in," 
she  answered,  "  or  even  a  pair  of  slippers." 

He  took  her  back  to  Alice,  as  the  music  died  away 
and  the  chatter  of  voices  arose.  She  had  barely  been 
seated  at  her  fairy  godmother's  side  when  Gaillard  ap- 
peared with  a  common  friend,  to  be  formally  presented. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

LOST    GROUND    TO    BE    REGAINED 

THE  dance  was  an  extra,  interpolated  in  a  program 
already  sufficiently  protracted.  Gaillard  had  assumed 
it  as  a  natural  right  with  a  boldness  and  directness  that 
left  Thurley  practically  helpless. 

The  somewhat  dazed  and  wondering  condition  of  her 
mind  had  returned;  but  a  certain  strength  and  resolu- 
tion had  been  fortified  in  her  being  by  her  heartening 
little  chat  with  Stuyverant.  She  found  herself  hang- 
ing on  Gaillard's  arm  and  walking  at  his  side  before 
she  could  possibly  have  formulated  a  plan  either  of  at- 
tack or  of  defense. 

He  had  lost  not  a  whit  of  his  self  assurance  or  his 
arrogance  of  spirit.  He  was  tanned,  but  otherwise 
bore  that  same  marked  air  of  perfected  immaculate- 
ness.  He  was  faultlessly  dressed,  and  presented,  as 
ever,  that  distinguished  manner  of  superiority  that, 
with  his  handsome  face,  had  once  made  ready  prey  of 
Thurley's  heart. 

"  Well,  Thurley,"  he  said  in  his  evenly  modulated 
murmur,  adjusted  so  readily  to  carry  to  her  ears  alone, 
"  we  meet  again." 

She  could  only  nod  her  head.  Already  the  wisdom 
of  abandoning  all  thought  of  deception  was  apparent 
to  her  mind. 

"  How  marvelously  well  you  look,"  he  continued. 

121 


122  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"You  fit  your  niche,  and  fill  your  role  to  perfection. 
You  don't  know  how  glad  I  am  to  see  you  again  — 
and  to  see  you  here." 

She  felt  the  significance  of  those  final  words  as  if 
they  had  been  written  in  fire.  Seeing  her  here  was  so 
different  from  seeing  her  a  tutor  in  New  Haven !  Her 
heart  was  beating  in  a  wild  little  flutter,  half  of  fear, 
half  of  anger,  to  think  he  must  thus  return  to  cross  her 
path.  She  attempted  a  smile.  "  You  are  very  kind." 

He  pressed  her  arm  tightly  with  his  own.  "  Do  you 
know,  little  girl,  after  all,  there  is  nobody  like  you  in 
the  world?  " 

Thurley  resented  his  attitude.  She  instantly  foresaw 
by  intuition  that  Gaillard  would  presume  upon  their 
past  relationship,  and  her  old  resolve  to  mete  him  out 
his  punishment  flashed  to  rebirth  in  her  breast.  She 
realized,  however,  the  utter  futility  of  her  threat,  in  the 
present  situation.  She  was  helplessly  delivered  to  his 
power  —  unless  she  should  choose  to  abandon  all  her 
golden  world  for  the  luxury  of  one  great  outburst  of 
scorn.  She  was  hedged  about  with  dangers ;  she  knew 
she  must  move  discreetly  and  with  skill. 

She  required  time  to  think  and  feel  her  way.  Her 
best  defense  was  persiflage  and  unobtrusive  fencing. 
"  Nobody  like  me  at  all?  "  she  asked  him  lightly.  "  Is 
that  rather  fortunate  —  or  otherwise?  " 

"Look  here!"  he  said.  "You  may  as  well  know, 
Thurley,  that  I  never  got  over  my  genuine  feeling, 
after  all.  I  hurt  myself  worse  than  I  ever  injured 
you." 

The  truth  of  the  matter  was  that  her  beauty  had 
overwhelmed  him,  made  captive  his  self-centered  being, 
while  the  things  he  had  heard  of  the  "  Princess  "  and 


LOST  GROUND  TO  BE  REGAINED      123 

the  obvious  madness  of  her  suitors,  paying  court,  had 
aroused  his  pique,  his  jealousy,  his  overwhelming  love 
of  dominance,  and  set  him  mad  to  possess  his  oldtime 
mastery  again. 

All  this  was  apparent  to  Thurley,  through  senses 
overacute  in  this  crisis  of  affairs.  She  was  rapidly 
losing  her  sense  of  alarm  and  gaining  courage  and  re- 
pose. His  power  might  be  great;  but  his  weakness 
gave  her  hope.  She  was  stubbornly  determined,  more- 
over, that  he  should  not  triumph  absolutely,  no  matter 
what  course  he  pursued. 

"  Injured  me?  "  she  said.  "  I'm  sorry  if  I  look  in- 
jured—  or  anything  like  that." 

"  You  don't,"  he  admitted,  aware  he  had  blundered 
and  determined  to  strike  another  course.  "  You  never 
looked  more  absolutely  glorious  in  your  life.  Tell  me, 
Thurley,  how  did  it  happen?  What  does  it  mean,  this 
delightful  and  amazing  little  masquerade,  this  Princess 
claim  of  yours  and  Alice  Van  Kirk's  ?  " 

It  had  come  a  little  sooner  than  she  expected.  Yet, 
after  all,  it  was  Gaillard's  brute  way  to  reveal  his 
claws  at  once.  She  arched  her  brows  in  query  and  sur- 
prise. "  Have  you  heard  that  either  Mrs.  Van  Kirk 
or  I  have  advanced  any  claims,  to  anything  at  all  ?  " 

"  Why  —  everybody's  talking  of  it,  everybody's  con- 
vinced it's  true.  That's  the  joke,  of  course.  I  don't 
say  who  started  the  claim ;  but  you  and  Alice  Van  Kirk 
are  perfectly  aware  of  what  is  going  on." 

"  And  you  find  it  something  to  resent?  "  She  asked 
it  with  a  smile  that  stung  and  captivated,  accused  and 
inflamed  him,  together. 

"  Not  at  all !  I,  Thurley  ?  Do  you  know  me  so  lit- 
tle as  that?  I  was  enormously  amused  and  pleased. 


THURLEY  RUXTON 

It's  something  to  be  the  only  one  who  knows  the  truth. 
I  want  you  to  keep  it  up." 

The  character  of  her  smile  slightly  altered  at  this 
added  disclosure  of  his  power.  "  It  is  like  you  to  wish 
me  to  keep  it  up,"  she  answered  inscrutably.  "  I  could 
be  very  happy  gratifying  such  a  friend." 

How  much  of  her  speech  carried  the  acid  of  satire  he 
could  not  immediately  determine.  He  only  knew  he 
held  a  species  of  scepter,  and  that  new  infatuation  with 
this  radiant  girl  was  flaming  his  blood  with  desire 
again  to  usurp  the  place  of  a  monarch  at  her  side. 

"Are  you  just  a  little  angry  with  me,  Thurley?  " 
he  inquired.  "  You  would  punish  me  now  for  the  fault 
committed  in  a  moment  of  folly?  " 

She  looked  more  astonished  than  before.  "  Do  I  ap- 
pear so  like  some  horrid  little  tyrant?  "  she  asked. 
"  What  have  I  done  by  way  of  punishment  —  punish- 
ing anyone? " 

The  music  arose.  He  took  her  in  the  curve  of  his 
arm  and  they  began  to  dance.  "  Come  now,  little 
girl,"  he  murmured  caressfully,  "  let's  be  candid  and 
make  no  pretenses  with  each  other.  We  were  more 
than  friends,  last  winter  and  spring.  My  roses  and 
chocolates  were  more  than  welcome,  and  the  drives  we 
took,  and  the  rest.  I  confess  my  error  in  passing  it  up, 
and  so  I  say  let's  go  back  to  it  all  and  forget  the  little 
lapse  of  time." 

What  a  hot  little  flame  of  resentment  burned  up  in 
her  nature  at  his  words,  his  assumption,  his  demeanor ! 
They  had  been  more  than  friends,  indeed !  How  readily 
he  remembered  now  the  things  once  so  easy  to  forget  J 
She  could  still  recall  his  words  of  dismissal,  at  least  in 
effect :  '  This  sort  of  thing  can't  go  on  forever.  .  .  „ 


LOST  GROUND  TO  BE  REGAINED      125 

You  knew  all  along  I'd  some  day  leave  and  follow  my 
career.  Now  let's  forget  it.  .  .  .  You've  always  been 
a  thoroughbred,  and  I  thought  of  course  you'd  be  one 
to  the  end." 

A  score  of  answers  rose  to  her  lips,  stinging,  angry 
speeches  that  his  conduct  had  deserved.  She  dispelled 
them  with  a  smile.  She  had  no  intention  of  revealing 
oldtime  scars,  or  permitting  the  loss  of  her  own  invalu- 
able self  control.  If  war  she  must,  the  method  must  be 
subtle. 

"  The  little  lapse  of  time !  "  she  repeated,  with  a 
barely  audible  laugh.  "  Isn't  so  very  long,  is  it?  And 
yet  so  many  things  have  changed." 

"  But  not  for  you  and  me,  little  sweetheart,"  he  said, 
in  the  deepest  caress  of  his  voice.  "  Can't  you  close 
your  eyes  and  see  it  all,  just  as  it  was  in  our  wonderful 
days  last  spring?  " 

She  could  have  struck  him  for  daring  to  employ  such 
a  term  of  endearment.  She  loathed  that  quality  within 
him  that  made  it  possible  for  the  man  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  situation  thus  shamelessly.  Yet  the  glance 
she  cast  him  was  artfully  modified. 

"  My  eyes  are  so  persistently  wide  open,"  she  said. 
"  And  even  if  I  closed  them  the  present  would  impinge 
upon  my  vision." 

A  flush  of  something  other  than  pleasure  passed 
across  his  face,  while  a  flash  shot  through  his  eyes. 
"  Do  you  mean  you  refuse  to  think  kindly  of  the 
past?" 

She  felt  the  underlying  challenge  in  his  tone.  "  Oh, 
the  past  is  very  dear  to  me,  indeed.  I  think  of  it 
kindly  very  often  —  parts  of  the  past,  at  least." 

"  But  of  me,  Thurley?     Are  you  going  to  forgive 


126  THURLEY  RUXTON 

me,  let  me  come  to  see  you  soon,  let  me  try  to  make 
amends  for  my  folly,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing?  " 

"  Everybody  calls  at  Mrs.  Van  Kirk's,"  she  told  him 
evasively.  "  I  don't  see  why  you  shouldn't." 

"  You  know  what  I  mean,"  he  insisted,  half  resent- 
fully. "  Isn't  it  something  that  I  confess  the  mistakes 
and  foolishness  I  committed  at  commencement?  " 

She  assumed  her  grave  little  way.  "  Why,  yes,  it's 
very  interesting  to  learn  you  made  mistakes." 

He  was  baffled  for  a  moment  and  felt  his  impatience 
increase.  "You  are  dodging  the  issue,  little  girl,"  he 
said,  attempting  a  lighter  demeanor.  "  I  can  under- 
stand you  are  flattered  by  a  dozen  or  so  of  these  John- 
nies dancing  attendance  on  a  pretty  girl  they  have 
heard  and  believe  is  a  runaway  Princess ;  but  you  and 
I  know  each  other  well  enough  to  be  able  to  laugh  at 
them  all  and  enjoy  a  little  private  joke  of  our  own.  I 
am  going  to  call  and  see  you.  There  were  sacred 
things  between  you  and  me  that  demand  consideration." 

Much  of  his  oldtime  demeanor  of  ownership,  once 
completely  fascinating,  made  vibrant  the  murmur  of 
his  voice.  Much  of  the  former  light  of  his  triumphant 
strength  was  in  his  eyes.  He  held  her  closer,  as  if  to 
make  her  feel  her  helplessness  —  and  she  understood  his 
attitude  of  mind,  which  was  not  devoid  of  threat. 

She  did  not  then  and  there  determine  on  a  method  for 
his  subsequent  humiliation;  for  alarms  and  uncertain- 
ties and  desire  for  counsel  with  Alice  were  too  much  on 
her  mind.  She  only  knew  that  her  plan  for  keeping 
Alice  uninformed  would  be  a  grave  mistake,  and  in- 
deed her  one  desire  was  to  get  her  away  to  their  pri- 
vate home  and  unburden  her  mind  of  it  all.  She  con- 
jured a  smile  as  before. 


LOST  GROUND  TO  BE  REGAINED      127 

"  You  will  have  to  make  your  treaty  first  with  Mrs. 
Van  Kirk,"  she  told  him  noncommittally.  "  She  is  nat- 
urally in  command." 

"  I  will,"  he  said. 

The  music  stopped. 

The  men  regathered  about  her.  He  presently  sur- 
rendered her  arm  and  bowed  himself  away. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

DELAYED    DECISIONS 

THE  remainder  of  the  evening  was,  for  Thurley,  more 
of  a  trial  than  a  comfort.  Her  triumph  continued; 
but  she  felt  its  hollowness,  felt  that  mockery  dogged 
her  footsteps  and  that  dark  abysses  loomed  ahead. 

She  could  not  escape  her  besiegers,  the  eager  swains 
who  continued,  in  varying  manner,  to  convey  their 
state  of  heart  and  mind.  Count  Fiaschi  was  not  in  the 
least  rebuffed;  at  least  to  outward  appearances.  Both 
he  and  Gaillard  took  advantage  of  every  possible  mo- 
ment to  push  to  her  side  and  renew  their  more  or  less 
invulnerable  wooing. 

Even  the  midnight  supper,  where  at  thirty  daintily 
decorated  little  tables  the  guests  were  assembled  for  re- 
freshment, failed  to  reinspire  the  ingenuous  delight  with 
which  the  "  Princess  "  had  entered  upon  the  evening. 

It  was  late,  and  Thurley  was  weary  and  a  little  de- 
pressed, when  at  length  she  and  Alice  retreated  from 
the  scene  to  be  driven  to  their  home.  Both  would  un- 
doubtedly have  been  thoroughly  alarmed  had  they 
known  that  in  the  street  outside  a  man  had  waited  all 
the  evening,  spying  upon  their  movements. 

It  was  the  same  individual  who,  on  the  night  of  the 
Horse  Show,  had  exchanged  a  glance  with  the  ashy 
eyed  woman  before  he  followed  them  through  the  ave- 
nue in  a  hired  taxicab.  He  tagged  them  to-night  like 

198 


DELAYED  DECISIONS  129 

a  shadow,  and  in  front  of  Alice's  mansion  was  relieved 
by  another  of  his  ilk  who  would  help  to  keep  an  un- 
broken record  of  every  movement  Thurley  made  and 
the  visitors  who  came  to  the  place. 

There  was  no  immediate  retiring  when  Alice  and  her 
protegee  were  finally  alone.  To  Fiaschi  had  been 
granted  the  privilege  of  riding  with  them  to  the  door. 
Thurley  had  managed  to  avoid  actual  contact  with  the 
nobleman ;  but  something  in  her  conduct  and  silence 
while  in  the  carriage  had  addressed  itself  to  Alice  Van 
Kirk's  intuitions  and  aroused  her  curiosity.  She  fol- 
lowed Thurley  to  the  girl's  boudoir  for  a  confidential 
chat. 

"  Well,  Deary,"  she  said  in  genuine  affection,  as  she 
seated  herself  at  ease,  after  having  temporarily  dis- 
missed the  maids,  "  another  joy  and  trial  over.  You 
made  me  very  proud  and  happy.  You  enjoyed  it,  I 
hope?  It  was  easily  all  your  evening." 

Thurley  was  pulling  off  her  gloves.  She  sank  in  a 
chair  and  looked  at  Alice  just  a  little  wistfully,  her 
dark  brows  slightly  raised  in  youthful  query.  "  Must 
I  say  I  did  to  please  you?  For  I  would  —  I'd  say 
anything  to  give  you  pleasure,"  she  replied.  "  I  did 
enjoy  it  at  first,  more  than  any  experience  in  my  life, 
and  then  —  " 

She  did  not  finish,  and  Alice  waited,  her  intuitions 
receiving  prompt  confirmation.  "  And  then,  Deary  — 
what?"  she  inquired  softly.  "You  know  I  felt  that 
something  had  marred  it  just  a  little." 

"  Two  things,"  said  Thurley  candidly.  "  I've  been 
dying  for  the  last  two  or  three  hours  to  get  you  away 
and  tell  you  all  about  it." 

Alice     settled     farther    in     the    chair.     The     color 


130  THURLEY  RUXTON 

mounted  to  Thurley's  cheeks  as  she  found  herself  thus 
committed,  and  the  task  of  confessing  harder  to  face 
than  she  had  previously  expected. 

"Something  disagreeable?"  Alice  encouraged. 
"  You  needn't  mind  telling  me,  you  know.  We're  good 
friends,  no  matter  what  may  happen."  Sudden  alarm 
possessed  her.  "  It  isn't  that  some  hot  headed  man  has 
already  proposed  and  you've  —  " 

"  Oh,  Lordy,  no ! "  Thurley  interrupted,  instantly 
placed  at  her  ease.  "  It  wasn't  so  decent  as  that,  on 
the  part  of  the  Count,  though  I  don't  pretend  to  know 
his  final  intentions." 

Alice  sat  up  more  rigidly.  "  Oh !  The  Count 
has—" 

Thurley  suddenly  rose  and  dashed  a  tear  of  anger 
from  her  eyes.  "  He  kissed  me  —  he  dared  to  do  that 
—  out  in  the  fernery !  I  could  have  killed  him !  " 

Her  indignation  required  no  protestation.  It  was 
advertised  in  all  her  attitude  as  she  turned  from  her 
protector  to  hide  the  crimson  of  her  face. 

Alice  could  make  no  immediate  reply.  She  was  an- 
gered, exasperated,  and  thoroughly  undecided  as  to 
what  she  ought  to  do. 

"  It  was  bad  enough,"  Thurley  continued,  "  to  have 
him  talk  nothing  but  his  nonsense !  And  to  dare  to  face 
me  afterward  —  and  even  come  home  with  us  too ! 
The  horrid  beast !  " 

"In  the  fernery?"  said  Alice.  "What  did  you 
do?" 

"I  hardly  know,"  said  Thurley,  and  related  her 
somewhat  confused  remembrance  of  the  incidents  as 
they  happened.  "I  must  have  struck  him,  or  some- 
thing; for  he  nearly  fell.  Then  I  begged  Robley 


DELAYED  DECISIONS  131 

Stuyverant  to  take  me  away."  She  halted  there,  with 
a  new  flush  of  color  creeping  to  her  cheeks,  at  the  mem- 
ory of  seeing  Gaillard  in  the  door. 

Alice  tapped  the  floor  with  a  small,  impatient  slip- 
per. "  This  is  really  too  bad,"  she  answered  pres- 
ently. "  I  need  the  Count  so  badly,  just  at  this  time. 
Mind  you,  Deary,  I  shouldn't  care  how  severely  you 
punish  him,  or  humiliate  him  later,  if  only  we  could  man- 
age to  keep  him  on  for  a  time,  in  spite  of  what  he  has 
done." 

Thurley  stared  at  her  in  honest  amazement.  "  You 
wish  me  to  see  him,  endure  him,  after  this?  " 

"  I  know  exactly  how  you  feel,  my  dear,  and  I  ad- 
mire you  for  it,"  Alice  answered ;  "  but  our  position  is 
peculiar.  It  may  last  a  brief  time  only,  this  triumph. 
For  many  reasons  I  did  very  much  desire  to  treat  the 
Count  rather  well,  as  well  as  the  others,  at  least,  and 
now  I'm  annoyed  more  than  I  can  tell.  The  miserable 
—  I  knew  it  —  I  felt  he  was  quite  that  sort.  Thur- 
ley, isn't  it  finer  art,  more  gratification  in  the  end,  to 
let  him  return  for  his  meed  of  deliberate  retribution? 
Couldn't  you  skewer  him  far  more  satisfactorily  by 
calm  intent  than  by  mere  impulsive  resentment?  " 

"  Oh,  I've  thought  of  that,"  Thurley  confessed  in 
her  usual  candor,  resuming  her  seat  a  little  wearily. 
"  I've  thought  of  so  many  things  to-night.  You  see, 
he  isn't  all." 

In  her  agitation  Alice  had  momentarily  forgotten 
Thurley's  statement  that  two  events  had  marred  the 
pleasure  of  the  evening.  "  Oh,"  she  said.  "  Yes, 
there's  something  more.  Not  so  bad  as  this,  I  trust?  " 

Thurley  was   once   again   all   courage   and  honesty. 

"  I'm  not  so  sure.     It  may  be  worse.     You  remember 


132  THURLEY  RUXTON 

meeting  Mr.  Gaillard?  "  Alice  nodded,  and  she  con- 
tinued. "  He  knew  me  in  New  Haven.  He  was  even 
my —  At  least  I  thought  he  intended-  He  threw 
me  over,  in  plain  English,  and  now  —  now  he  wants  to 
make  love  to  me  again." 

Alice  stared,  all  but  speechless.  "  Thurley !  And 
you  —  like  him  still  ?  " 

Thurley  rose  again,  superbly  active.  "  I  hate  him ! 
To  think  he'd  come  like  this  —  now  —  and  dare !  Oh, 
it  does  seem  as  if  I've  got  a  right  to  make  him  suff er !  " 

Alice  rose  too.  "  This  is  certainly  grave.  He  men- 
tioned your  present  position,  asked  questions,  I  pre- 
sume? He  isn't  positively  the  cad  to  take  advantage 
of  his  knowledge !  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Thurley,  once  more  relapsing 
into  her  chair.  "  He  hinted  at  things,  and  of  course 
asked  questions  and  made  insinuations.  He  insisted  on 
coming  to  see  me,  going  back  to  our  old  relationship, 
and  said  he'd  make  his  treaty  with  you." 

"And  you?"  said  Alice.  "You  were  careful,  of 
course,  noncommittal?  You  didn't  leave  him  offended 
or  vengeful  ?  " 

Thurley's  eyes  flashed  warringly.  "  No !  I  almost 
determined  to  do  everything  in  my  power  to  lead  him 
on,  and  then  later  even  up  the  score;  but  he  made  me 
so  angry  I  don't  know  whether  I  could  really  do  it  or 
not.  I'd  probably  despise  myself.  I'd  rather  not  try. 
I  don't  know  what  to  do." 

Alice  smiled  in  sheer  relief.  She  was  suddenly  sure 
of  the  future. 

"  Don't  try  to  decide  anything  to-night,  my  dear, 
and  don't  be  uneasy,  or  angered,  or  anything  but 
amused  —  at  least  for  the  present.  It's  time  we  re- 


DELAYED  DECISIONS  133 

tired.  Don't  forget,  dear  Princess,  that  you  are  cer- 
tain to  be  the  target  for  all  of  Cupid's  arrows,  the  bit- 
ter with  the  sweet.  It  is  sometimes  possible  to  fight 
fire  only  with  fire,  and  some  kinds  of  love  with  —  art." 
She  kissed  the  tired  girl  affectionately  and  smiled  reas- 
suringly. 

"  But,"  said  Thurley,  "  when  he  comes  to  see  you  — 
what  will  you  do?  " 

"  Nothing  you  will  refuse  to  ratify ;  nothing  the  sit- 
uation does  not  justify,  either  with  him  or  Fiaschi. 
But  I  hope,  dear  child,  we're  the  equal  of  two  selfish 
men.  Will  you  leave  it  all  to  me?  " 

"  My  fairy  godmother ! "  said  Thurley  smilingly. 
"  What  else  could  I  possibly  do?  " 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THREATS   AND    CARRIAGES 

GAILLARD  called  the  following  afternoon,  and  met  such 
a  radiant  welcome  on  the  part  of  Alice  Van  Kirk  as  not 
even  his  largest  assurance  would  have  ventured  to  pre- 
dict. Thurley  he  did  not  see.  At  Alice's  counsel  the 
"  Princess  "  had  accepted  an  invitaton  to  drive  with 
Willie  Stetson  and  his  mother  in  the  park.  Willie 
was  expected  almost  momentarily. 

Gaillard  looked  well.  He  was  well  and  confident  and 
determined,  having  happened  upon  added  information 
since  the  ball  concerning  the  favor  and  feverish  regard 
in  which  "  Princess  "  Thurley  was  held,  especially  by 
eager  male  admirers. 

Quite  as  well  satisfied  to  interview  Alice  alone,  as  a 
sort  of  preliminary  maneuver  in  his  game,  the  visitor 
readily  followed  to  her  lavender  nookery  and  agreed  to 
drink  a  cup  of  tea.  "  I  told  you  last  night  I  hoped  to 
call,"  he  said.  "  You  see,  I  have  not  delayed  in  prov- 
ing my  friendly  intentions." 

"  I'm  so  glad ! "  said  Alice  graciously.  "  I  can 
scarcely  understand  how  it  happened  we  never  met  be- 
fore." She  knew  his  antecedents,  and  the  wealth  and 
pedigree  they  had  boasted  for  three  generations. 

"  I  have  been  in  New  York  but  little,"  he  confessed, 
especially  during  the  last  few  years.  Of  course  I  have 
heard  your  name  a  great  many  times  recently,  coupled 
with  that  of  your  beautiful  protegee." 

134 


THREATS  AND  CARRIAGES  135 

Alice  mentally  acknowledged  the  promptness  with 
which  he  swung  about  to  the  subject  uppermost  in  his 
thoughts.  "  One  hears  so  many  things  in  these  days  of 
wireless !  "  she  laughed.  "  It  ought  to  be  called  the 
Wireless  Age  —  or  perhaps  the  Regardless  Age  would 
be  more  accurate." 

Gaillard  nodded  in  a  quick,  curt  way  which  Thurley 
would  have  recognized  as  a  sign  of  impatience  to 
achieve  some  object  sought  with  the  greatest  possible 
expedition.  "  I  was  very  agreeably  surprised,"  he 
stated,  "  to  encounter  Thurley  again  last  night  at  the 
dance." 

Alice,  hardly  less  than  Thurley  herself,  resented  his 
tone  and  familiarity.  She  arched  her  brows.  "  Thur- 
ley?" 

"  Miss  Ruxton,"  he  corrected,  slightly  flushing. 
"  She  may  not  have  told  you  we  are  —  well,  old  ac- 
quaintances." 

Alice  had  decided  to  reveal  as  little  as  circumstances 
might  permit.  "  She  was  very  tired  last  night  when 
we  returned." 

Gaillard  narrowed  his  eyes.  The  matter  in  hand 
was  one  of  business  with  him,  and  he  meant  to  be  suf- 
ficiently plain.  "  I  knew  her  very  well  —  more  than 
ordinarily  well  —  in  New  Haven." 

"  Oh."  Alice  betrayed  not  the  slightest  emotion, 
and  not  a  very  pronounced  interest. 

"  You  can  imagine  my  surprise  and  delight,  my 
amusement,  I  might  say,"  he  resumed,  "  to  learn  the 
extraordinary  misidentification  of  Thurley  that  all 
New  York  seems  so  agreed  upon.  Rich,  isn't  it  ?  " 

"  You  mean  the  outcome  of  her  remarkable  resem- 
blance to  —  " 


136  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  This  Princess  Thirvinia  business,  certainly,"  he 
supplied.  "  It's  a  wonderful  joke,  a  stupendous  joke, 
that  the  swell  set  is  playing  on  itself.  Not  that  Thur- 
ley  doesn't  look  the  part,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing. 
She's  a  wonderful  little  girl;  no  one  knows  it  better 
than  I.  But  what  would  happen,  I  wonder,  if  the 
truth  should  happen  to  leak?  "  He  laughed,  and  she 
thought  his  mirth  distinctly  disagreeable. 

"  You  are  aware,  I  hope,"  she  answered,  "  that 
neither  Miss  Ruxton  nor  myself  has  ever  contributed 
anything  to  what  you  term  this  stupendous  joke?" 

"  That's  the  beauty  of  it,  the  art,"  he  stated  baldly. 
"  I  recognized  that  at  once.  But  wouldn't  it  jar  all 
upper-crustdom  to  wake  up  some  morning  to  the 
facts  ?  "  He  laughed  again,  adding,  "  Not  that  it's 
likely  they  will." 

His  dwelling  upon  this  possibility  jarred  upon  Alice 
sufficiently  to  rouse  all  her  sense  of  distrust  and  dis- 
like. It  sounded  too  much  in  the  nature  of  a  menace, 
a  father  to  his  thought,  if  not  a  pronouncement  of  his 
power.  She  wished  to  sound  him  thoroughly. 

"  Would  it  necessarily  disturb  our  friends  to  lose  one 
Princess  and  discover  another?  They  might  even  re- 
joice to  find  she  was  not  of  the  foreign  nobility." 

"  Oh,  that  part  of  it,  of  course,"  he  admitted  bluntly ; 
"  but  they  might  discover  she  was  once  just  a  pretty 
girl  in  New  Haven  tutoring,  and  living  a  very  humble 
life.  Not  that  anything  of  the  sort  would  make  the 
slightest  difference  to  anyone  like  myself,"  he  hastened 
to  add;  "  but  to  others  would  the  joke  be  quite  as  pal- 
atable? Of  course  they  may  never  find  it  out." 

Mentally  Alice  branded  him  a  cad  whom  not  even 
youth  could  excuse.  Outwardly  she  was  still  all 
smiles  and  entertainment.  "  Of  what  possible  advan- 


THREATS  AND  CARRIAGES  137 

tage  could  it  be,  I  wonder,"  she  said,  "  for  anyone  who 
chanced  to  know  all  this  to  advertise  the  facts?  " 

"  Oh,  none  whatever ! "  he  assured  her  with  alacrity. 
"  It's  just  odd  that  I  should  be  the  only  one  to  know. 
It  heightens  my  interest  in  the  game,  doesn't  it?  I 
feel  toward  Thurley  as  none  of  these  Johnnies  could." 

"  And  she  feels  the  same  toward  you?  "  He  had  the 
grace  to  flush  a  trifle  in  momentary  confusion. 

"  She  did  —  she  —  may  I  not  be  permitted  a  little 
modesty?  " 

"  As  much  as  you  like,"  she  answered  heartily,  glad 
to  know  he  had  at  least  a  speaking  acquaintance  with 
the  word.  "  Pardon  my  question.  It  was  probably 
unfair,  but  prompted  by  my  interest  in  —  you  both." 

"  We  shall  be  good  friends,"  he  answered  confidently. 
"  I  naturally  expect  to  see  rather  a  lot  of  the  little 
girl." 

A  clatter  of  hoofs,  as  of  a  cavalcade,  intruded  itself 
through  the  window,  followed  almost  at  once  by  silence. 

Then  a  footman  appeared  at  the  open  door  and  en- 
gaged the  attention  of  his  mistress.  She  crossed  to 
him  at  once. 

"  Mr.  Stetson,  Madam,  if  you  please,"  announced  the 
servant  quietly.  "  Shall  I  speak  to  Miss  Thurley, 
Madam?" 

"  At  once,  James."  She  smiled  back  at  Gaillard. 
"  You  will  excuse  me  just  a  moment?  "  and  she  hastened 
to  the  reception  room,  where  Stetson  was  waiting,  as 
blushing  and  self  conscious  as  a  girl. 

"  Oh,  here  you  are,  Alice !  "  he  said,  attempting  to 

laugh  away  his  nervousness.     "  You  see,  I  didn't  know, 

of  course,  what  carriage  Miss  Thurley  might  prefer; 

so  I  brought  them  all." 

"  Brought  them  all !  "  echoed  Alice,  moving  at  once 


138  THURLEY  RUXTON 

to  the  window  and  sweeping  aside  the  filmy  traceries  of 
lace.  "  In  Heaven's  name,  Willie  Stetson,  did  you 
come  to  take  a  whole  asylum  for  a  drive?  " 

It  appeared  very  much  as  if  he  had.  There  was  a 
very  cavalcade  of  vehicles  out  by  the  curb,  each  with 
a  man  in  attendance.  Every  known  and  unknown  con- 
trivance on  wheels  was  represented,  —  carts,  drags, 
hacks,  cabs,  landaus,  victorias,  phaetons,  an  automo- 
bile, everything  save  a  baby  perambulator  and  a  wheel- 
barrow. 

"  Well,  she  might  as  well  have  her  choice,  mightn't 
she?  "  inquired  the  embarrassed  Willie.  "  Mother,  you 
see,  has  no  preference,  really.  She'd  ride  in  anything 
I  suggested.  Deuced  clever  little  mother !  " 

Mother  was  seated  in  the  foremost  rig  at  the  mo- 
ment. She  was  a  harmless,  mindless  little  person,  im- 
movably persuaded  that  the  universe  pivoted  some- 
where in  Willie's  system. 

"  I  see,"  said  Alice.  "  Your  plan  is  at  least 
unique." 

Thurley  having  seen  the  arrival  of  Willie's  proces- 
sion, was  already  coming  down  when  James  was  half- 
way to  the  floor  above. 

"What  is  it?"  she  said,  as  she  entered  the  room. 
"  Oh,  Mr.  Stetson,  how  do  you  do?  " 

'*  Nicely,  thank  you,"  said  Willie,  once  more  blushing 
profusely.  "  Awfully  jolly  to  see  you  again.  I  was 
just  telling  Alice  I  brought  everything  around  to  give 
you  something  of  a  choice.  She  says  my  plan  is  unique. 
I  was  hoping  it  might  seem  different,  not  too  beastly 
commonplace." 

Fhurley  came  to  the  window  and  cast  a  glance  up 
and  down  the  imposing  line.  "I  don't  believe  I  quite 


THREATS  AND  CARRIAGES  139 

understand,"  she  confessed.  "  We  couldn't  ride  in 
them  all." 

"  Why  not?  "  asked  Willie.  "  If  we  like  —  you  like, 
'I  mean.  I  thought  we'd  start  in  the  one  you  prefer 
and  the  others  could  follow  behind,  in  case  you'd  like 
to  change,  you  know,  or  anything  like  that." 

"  Oh,  my !  Please  send  them  away,  all  but  the  one 
your  mother's  in,"  said  Thurley.  "  That  is  your 
mother,  I  suppose?  " 

"  That's  the  mater,  all  right ;  but  —  send  them 
away?  Are  you  sure  that's  the  one  you  prefer.  If 
you'd  like  any  other  horses  put  to  the  carriage  —  " 

"  Willie,  go  take  your  drive,  like  a  rational  being !  " 
Alice  interrupted.  "  I  never  heard  of  anything  like 
it  in  my  life !  " 

"All  right,"  said  Willie  cheerfully.  "Really  it 
doesn't  make  the  slightest  bit  of  difference  to  mother 
or  me." 

He  went  out,  and,  like  the  dismemberment  of  a  cir- 
cus, the  vehicles  started  away  round  the  corner  and 
down  the  avenue  with  the  most  diverting  variety  of 
paces.  Then  Willie,  mother,  and  Thurley  disappeared, 
the  "  Princess  "  gayly  but  discreetly  waving  to  Alice, 
still  standing  by  the  window. 

"  Dear  girl !  "  she  murmured  to  herself,  and  returned 
to  the  nookery  and  Gaillard. 

He  had  risen,  upon  her  retreat  from  the  room,  and 
beheld,  from  the  window,  the  departure  of  Thurley  with 
her  friends.  Piqued  by  a  realization  that  others  be- 
sides himself  were  in  daily  attendance  here  at  the 
"  royal  palace,"  he  was  thoroughly  determined  to  pur- 
sue his  advantage  to  the  uttermost,  regardless  of  Alice 
Van  Kirk. 


140  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  Where  were  we?  "  Alice  asked  him,  as  she  gave 
him  one  of  her  bright,  disarming  smiles.  "  Had  we 
just  about  exhausted  our  subject?" 

He  could  think  of  nothing  new  to  say,  as  a  matter' 
of  fact,  that  would  not  be  either  mere  repetition  or 
something  too  much  in  the  nature  of  a  threat  to  be  ju- 
dicious. "  Our  subject  was  Thurley,"  he  answered,  at- 
tempting a  smile  of  his  own.  "  Such  a  subject  could 
scarcely  be  exhausted  in  an  afternoon." 

"  Ah,  yes  —  and  your  past  relationship,  or  some- 
thing of  the  sort.  Was  that  not  finished  either?  " 

Gaillard  was  not  entirely  persuaded  as  to  the  full 
significance  of  her  question.  He  concluded  to  be  on 
the  safer  side.  He  drew  back  the  corners  of  his  mouth 
peculiarly.  It  was  not  a  very  pleasant  expression. 

"  The  relation  has  never  been  finished,"  he  answered 
incisively.  "  It  has  really  just  begun." 

It  was  a  bold  speech,  almost  defiantly  delivered. 
Alice  accepted  its  challenge  mentally  with  a  certain 
zest  that  heightened  her  color. 

"  Oh.  Well,  of  course  that,  after  all,  is  a  matter 
for  you  and  Thurley  alone,"  she  answered.  "  It  was 
not  your  intention  to  enlist  my  services  in  your  behalf, 
naturally  ?  " 

It  was  rather  a  blunt  question,  one  calculated  to 
uncover  his  batteries,  so  to  speak.  He  recognized  its 
nature.  "  Why,  no,  not  precisely ;  but,  standing  as 
you  do,  somewhat  as  Thurley's  sponsor,  promoter, 
friend,  you  can  see  that  the  least  I  could  do  was  to 
make  the  matter  plain  to  you  as  soon  as  possible,  let 
you  know  evert/thing  about  it." 

The  joker  lay  in  his  emphasis  on  the  one  word  "  every- 
thing," as  Alice  readily  divined.  What  he  meant  to 
convey  was  simply  that  he  wished  her  to  know  without 


THREATS  AND  CARRIAGES 

delay  that  his  power  was  great  and  he  meant  to  em- 
ploy it  to  any  required  extent;  that  he  would  not  be 
blocked  by  herself,  her  plans,  or  even  by  Thurley  her- 
self. 

"  I  am  very  glad  you  came  for  this  revealing  chat," 
she  told  him,  smiling  as  she  rose  from  her  chair.  "  It 
clears  things  wonderfully  always  to  be  perfectly  frank." 

He  too  rose,  aware  the  interview  was  ended.  Her 
baffling  inscrutability,  which  he  felt  and  a  little  com- 
prehended, annoyed  him  excessively.  Her  apparent 
candor  and  acquiescence  veiled  so  much,  and  left  him 
so  little  with  which  to  contend  or  struggle.  He  had 
come  prepared  for  open  war,  if  need  be;  he  found  his 
heavy  artillery  useless.  But  one  thing  more  he  did  in- 
tend,—  that  Alice  should  know  he  meant  to  see  Thurley 
often,  take  her  out  publicly,  and  exhibit  to  the  world 
his  particular  favor  in  her  sight. 

"  Now  that  I  am  back,  with  considerable  leisure,"  he 
said,  "  I  shall  arrange  quite  a  program  for  the  little 
girl.  I  have  seen  her  so  little  for  the  last  few  months 
that  there's  a  good  deal  of  time  to  make  up.  I  may 
come  around  —  in  fact,  I  shall  come  around  —  to-mor- 
row with  my  car;  unless,  of  course,  you  and  Thurley 
have  some  particular  engagement." 

His  assumption  of  mastership  in  the  situation  all  but 
took  Alice's  breath.  It  was  almost  admirable.  It 
aroused  her  ire  and  amusement  together.  She  thought 
she  foresaw  the  means  of  his  own  undoing  by  its  own 
very  weight  and  persistence. 

"  Why,  yes,  by  all  means  come  to-morrow,"  she  said. 
"  It  will  be  a  great  pleasure  for  us  all." 

He  thanked  her,  shook  her  proffered  hand,  and  was 
presently  gone,  still  wondering  just  what  her  manner 
signified  and  how  far  she  would  aid  or  oppose  him. 


CHAPTER  XX 

AN    IMPERIAL    VISITOR 

THE  following  noon  Gaillard  received  a  note  that  Alice 
had  hastily  scrawled : 

Yesterday  I  quite  forgot  that  this  was  my  afternoon  at 
home.  Forgive  me  and  come.  We  shall  expect  you;  do 
not  disappoint  us. 

This  was  signed  "  Cordially  yours."  There  was 
nothing  to  do  but  go.  Gaillard  went  —  and  found 
himself  obliged  to  share  the  "  Princess "  with  more 
than  the  usual  number  of  men,  among  whom  was  the 
Count. 

Acton  was  not  at  all  pleased  to  find  Fiaschi  present 
and  obviously  pursuing  his  one  "  great  game  "  in  his 
periodically  eruptive  manner.  Gaillard  and  the  Count 
were  Continental  acquaintances.  They  were,  in  a  man- 
ner, friends.  Their  relationship  was  more  in  some 
ways  and  less  in  others  than  one  of  mere  friendliness, 
since  in  a  deal  concerned  with  foreign  securities  they 
were  intimately  bound  together. 

The  matter  involved  tremendous  sums  of  money.  It 
was  planned  to  involve  much  more,  which  should  pres- 
ently materialize  as  "  velvet,"  in  which  they  would 
share  alike.  It  was  all  necessarily  a  secret  enterprise, 
the  negotiations  for  which  were  being  conducted  daily 
as  the  various  phases  of  a  huge  flotation  developed. 
Up  to  the  present  moment  these  two  men,  varying  widely 
in  many  attributes,  had  met  with  complete  accord,  so 
far  as  matters  of  a  purely  business  nature  were  con- 

1  2 


AN  IMPERIAL  VISITOR  143 

earned.  Beyond  that  point,  and  more  chiefly  concern- 
ing affairs  of  a  sentimental  nature,  they  were  quite  at 
variance,  neither  one  admiring  or  desiring  to  adopt  the 
methods  of  the  other. 

To  find  Fiaschi  here,  and  obviously  not  a  new  recruit 
at  Thurley's  court,  but  even  somewhat  in  apparent 
favor,  at  least  with  Alice  Van  Kirk,  was  distinctly  dis- 
tasteful to  the  college  man  who  had  once  made  college 
widows.  He  meant  to  brook  no  interference  by  such  a 
being  as  the  Count,  no  matter  what  expedients  might 
be  found  necessary  for  his  elimination  from  the  drama. 

The  Count,  for  his  part,  frankly  despised  Gaillard's 
methods  with  women,  and,  secretly  sneering  also  at  some 
of  his  business  tactics,  concerned  himself  but  little  with 
a  rival  whom  he  felt  to  be  essentially  weak  in  fervor, 
poetry,  and  the  glamor  of  the  game. 

•On  the  other  side  of  the  complex  situation  were  ranged 
two  dimpled  women,  with  never  an  armament  bristling 
in  view.  They  had  come  to  understanding  and  agree- 
ment with  the  utmost  ease.  Thurley,  from  having  half 
decided  that  Fiaschi  and  Gaillard  should  both  be  pun- 
ished through  their  own  devices,  had  readily  succumbed 
to  Alice's  added  resentment,  and  consented  to  her  plan. 
It  was  simply  to  permit  these  men  to  feel  as  much  en- 
couraged as  they  pleased  —  and  let  them  await  the  hour 
for  their  own  reward  to  overtake  them.  To  fight  with 
either  would  be  folly  of  the  most  destructive  sort,  and 
inartistic.  Alice  was  thoroughly  esthetic  in  her  ad- 
herence and  devotion  to  art.  As  a  feminine  technician, 
moreover,  she  was  unexcelled. 

The  battle  of  unseen  forces  began  that  afternoon. 
Not  only  did  Alice  and  Thurley  assume  new  tactical 
positions,  but  Gaillard  and  Fiaschi  cleared  their  decks 


THURLEY  RUXTON 

for  action,  one  against  the  other;  while  Stuyverant, 
Stetson,  Algy  Dearborn,  Kelsey  Woods,  Beau  Brym- 
mer,  Captain  Fowler,  and  nearly  a  dozen  lesser  lumi- 
naries took  careful  account  of  the  enemies'  strength  and 
position,  and  planned  for  or  groped  toward  some  more 
or  less  definite  campaign. 

At  the  present  moment  the  tuneful  Algy  was  quite 
at  the  fore  of  the  firing  line  and  was  gleefully  discharg- 
ing the  weapons  he  felt  convinced  were  most  certain  to 
achieve  victory  over  all  who  might  engage. 

"  You  know  it's  wonderful,  really,"  he  announced  to 

Thurley,  "  the  effect  you  have  on  my  creative  ability 

—  stirring  up  the  muse !     You're  oats  and  barley  and 

all  that  sort  of  thing,  you  know,  to  my  Pegasus.     Real 

jolly  of  you,  too.     I  told  you  a  new  one  was  working  up 

—  another  of  my  poems.     I  fancy  it's  a  bit  original. 

Shall  I  give  it  to  you?  " 

"  I  should  be  sorry  to  miss  anything  in  creation," 
Thurley  answered,  genuinely  amused  by  Algy's  mani- 
festation of  genius.  "  Is  it  very  long?  " 

"  That's  the  deuce  of  it !  "  Algy  confessed.  "  I  can't 
seem  to  keep  up  the  white  heat  —  the  pressure,  you 
know  —  for  very  long  at  a  time.  All  my  poems  are 
short,  so  far,  though  some  have  a  sort  of  epic  swing,  I 
rather  fancy.  This  one  goes  —  if  I  can  remember  it 
straight-  Oh,  er  —  yes.  It  starts  off  '  I  say.'  It's 
really  all  in  quotation  marks.  You  might  keep  that  in 
mind.  It  goes  like  this: 

'  I  say/  said  the  hare  to  the  tortoise, 
'  How  comes  it  that  persons  import  us 

To  run  in  a  race 

If  they  mean  to  efface 
And  in  soup  and  in  ragouts  to  thwart  us  ?  ' 


AN  IMPERIAL  VISITOR  145 

The  humorous  vein,  you  see.  Neat,  isn't  it?  And  con- 
tains such  a  lot !  I  like  that  line,  *  And  in  soup  and 
in  ragouts,'  and  so  forth.  And  after  all,  there's  phi- 
losophy in  it.  I'm  glad  it  amuses  you,  really." 

It  did,  almost  as  much  as  he  did  himself.  Thurley 
enjoyed  both  limerick  and  Algy  thoroughly.  They 
were  such  a  relief  from  some  of  the  men  and  affairs  too 
insistently  serious ;  "  I  hope  your  genius  will  flourish," 
she  told  him  honestly.  "  Thank  you  so  much  for  let- 
ting me  be  oats  and  barley  to  Pegasus  —  dear  old 
Pegasus,  the  many-gaited!  What  endurance  some 
creatures  have ! " 

"  Really  I  never  ride  him  overtime,"  said  Algy 
gravely.  "  You  know  '  a  merciful  man  '  and  the  rest 
of  it.  Better  keep  him  fresh,  I  say,  if  one  doesn't 
wish  to  become  a  cropper." 

Alice  broke  his  spell  relentlessly,  as  one  who  knows 
the  necessity  of  rotating  the  crops,  as  it  were.  Thur- 
ley was  presently  listening  to  and  even  smiling  at  the 
utterances  of  Count  Fiaschi,  as  if  nothing  in  the  world 
had  ever  happened.  Later  it  was  Gaillard,  in  a  some- 
what sullen,  wholly  selfish,  and  exacting  mood,  that  she 
calmed  and  soothed  with  softened  word  and  smile. 

With  something  inherently  skillful,  as  well  as  naive, 
she  contrived  to  impress  upon  each  and  everyone  of 
her  envious  and  watchful  suitors  the  conviction  that  he, 
above  all  others,  had  been  favored,  inducted  into  a  lit- 
tle private  corner  of  her  real  regard,  and  pedestaled 
all  by  himself. 

Indeed,  that  afternoon  became  typical  of  the  days 
and  maneuvers  to  follow.  The  game  developed  all 
manner  of  mild  excitements  and  vast  necessity  for  skill, 
adroitness,  and  tact.  To  adjust  her  hours,  moods,  and 


146  THTJRLEY  RUXTON 

movements  to  the  needs  of  the  game,  avoiding  collisions 
of  the  pieces  on  the  board,  and  keeping  them  all  in  active 
play,  yet  never  overplayed,  to  the  essential  neglect  of 
others,  demanded  all  the  judgment,  good  nature,  and 
finesse  of  which  both  Thurley  and  Alice  were  capable. 

A  chase  could  have  been  no  more  exciting.  Merely 
to  allay  the  suspicions  constantly  preying  upon  both 
Gaillard  and  Fiaschi  required  breathless  fencing,  quite 
absorbing  in  itself.  But  the  more  they  exacted,  the 
more  grew  the  zest  with  which  Thurley  entered  the  con- 
flict. The  engagements  increased  in  intensity  day  by 
day,  as  the  men's  impatience  and  new  demands  were 
multiplied;  yet,  even  while  they  arrogated  powers  and 
assurance  to  themselves,  more  strong  grew  Thurley's 
resentment  of  their  attitude  and  greater  was  her  desire 
to  see  them  leveled. 

During  all  this  season  of  uncertainty,  evasions,  and 
"  back  firing  on  dangerous  love,"  as  Alice  termed  the 
game,  there  were  two  persistent  elements  that  gnawed 
just  a  bit  at  Thurley's  heart.  One  was  a  certain  in- 
creasing anxiety  and  dubiety  attacking  Robley  Stuy- 
verant,  as  he  watched  her  movements  and  seemingly 
heartless  democracy  with  all  these  admiring  men;  the 
other  was  a  series  of  pangs  and  anger  excited  in  the 
breast  of  little  Mildred  Gray. 

There  was  nothing  emphatic  to  be  done  at  such  a 
juncture  to  allay  the  emotions  of  either.  Robley, 
grown  singularly  isolated  from  the  others,  not  only  by 
his  behavior  and  sincerity,  but  as  well  by  her  own  in- 
creasing regard  and  desire  for  his  honest  comradeship, 
Thurley  could  not  approach  with  tenderness  because  of 
her  promises  to  Alice  and  the  delicate  situation  hedg- 
ing them  both  about.  She  beheld  his  suspicions  and 
his  ardors  alternate,  and  was  helpless.  She  felt  her- 


AN  IMPERIAL  VISITOR  147 

self  drawn  to  him  day  after  day,  yet  could  treat  him 
no  more  warmly  than  the  men  she  had  grown  to  fear 
and  despise. 

•  It  hurt  her  to  feel  that  she  must,  perforce,  be  con- 
stantly misunderstood.  There  was  never  a  moment 
when  she  did  not  wish  his  confidence,  his  trust  —  and 
perhaps  something  more,  for  which  she  began  at  last  to 
ache,  before  she  even  understood  the  yearning  of  her 
soul.  As  one  across  a  yawning  chasm,  she  sent  him 
thoughts  he  could  not  read  and  she  herself  had  not  in- 
terpreted to  the  full  extent  of  their  meaning.  She 
knew  she  thrilled  when  he  came  to  her  side;  she  knew 
she  lived  over  their  first  afternoon  together  repeatedly, 
always  in  a  golden  haze  that  lifted  them  both  above  the 
earth;  but  she  did  not  realize  even  then  how  mighty 
was  the  bond  of  love  between  them. 

Concerning  Mildred  her  regrets  were  neither  so 
poignant  nor  incurable.  She  had  early  resolved  to  put 
this  worried  little  being's  fears  at  rest  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment  —  so  far  as  she  was  able.  Neverthe- 
less, she  was  sensitive  to  anyone's  dislike,  and  more 
than  the  men's  she  courted  her  own  sex's  favor. 
.  This  was  the  state  of  affairs  at  Alice's  "  palace  " 
for  nearly  a  week,  and  then,  as  if  the  complications 
were  not  already  sufficient,  an  astonishing  new  element 
was  added  to  the  little  drama  that  centered  on  Thur- 
ley's  head. 

It  came  in  the  person  of  two  extraordinary  German 
individuals,  on  a  Friday  evening,  just  at  the  dinner's 
conclusion.  Only  one  sent  in  his  card,  which  was  duly 
presented  to  Alice.  On  it  was  printed: 

Herr  Otto  Wenck. 
Beneath  this  was  written: 


148  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

Desiring  to  see  Mrs.  Van  Kirk  and  young  lady  styled 
Miss  Thurley 

O.  Wv  for  Hertzegotha. 

Alice  read  it  to  herself  in  bewilderment,  then  read  it 
aloud  to  Thurley.  "  I  don't  understand  it  in  the 
least,"  she  said.  "  What  could  it  possibly  mean  ?  " 

"  Hertzegotha,"  repeated  Thurley,  suddenly  a  trifle 
pale.  "  Alice !  It's  someone  from  her  country  looking 
for  Princess  Thirvinia!  What  shall  we  do?" 

Alice  had  risen  galvanically.  "  Good  heavens ! 
Well,  I  suppose  it  had  to  come,"  and  she  shrugged  her 
shoulders.  "  We  may  as  well  see  Herr  Wenck." 


CHAPTER  XXI 

WENCK,  FOR  HERTZEGOTHA 

THURLEY  heard  him  as  one  in  a  dream,  as  he  bent  very 
low  above  her  hand  and  touched  it  with  his  lips.  He 
spoke  in  German. 

"  Permit  me,  your  Highness,  to  present  my  humble 
self,  the  special  agent  of  your  Highness'  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment at  Hertzegotha." 

It  seemed  incredible,  this  fiery  haired,  fiery  whiskered 
being  representing  the  land  of  the  runaway  Princess, 
accepting  herself  for  that  erratic  young  personage  with 
a  confidence  and  demeanor  that  left  no  doubt  of  his 
absolute  conviction  that  the  Princess  stood  before  him. 
She  thought  of  one  faltering  test. 

"  But,  Mein  Herr,"  she  answered  in  his  native 
tongue,  "  I  regret  to  say  I  have  never  seen  you  before." 

"  Ah,  that  is  my  misfortune,"  he  told  her  readily. 
"  Never  have  I  been  at  your  court  but  once,  when  by 
great  favor  of  the  Fates  I  beheld  your  Highness  from 
afar." 

This,  then,  was  the  explanation.  The  resemblance 
she  doubtless  bore  to  the  Princess,  known  to  be  some- 
where concealed  in  America,  was  sufficient  to  convince 
him  of  her  royal  identity.  She  knew  not  what  to  do  or 
what  to  answer.  She  took  half  a  moment  in  which  to 
glance  at  her  visitor's  companion. 

He  was  one  of  those  intensely  black  Teutons,  with 
a  military  brush  of  bristles  on  top  of  his  head  and  an 

149 


150  THURLEY  RUXTON 

equally  bristling  shoe  dauber  prickling  at  his  nose. 
His  expression  was  most  severe.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
he  was  thoroughly  mild,  and  at  the  present  moment  too 
thoroughly  awed  to  breathe  in  his  normal  manner. 

It  seemed  to  Thurley  that  the  joke  was  proceeding 
just  a  trifle  too  far;  that  to  go  on  permitting  these 
serious  representatives  of  a  serious,  worried  Govern- 
ment to  continue  in  their  error  was  not  precisely  justi- 
fiable. She  wished,  more  than  anything  in  the  world, 
for  fifteen  minutes  alone  with  Alice.  She  was  mentally 
staggering  like  a  dizzy  dervish,  to  grasp  at  something 
to  say,  when  Alice  came  adroitly  to  the  rescue. 

"  Herr  Wenck,"  she  said  "  my  German  is  sadly  at 
fault;  but  I  beg  to  suggest  that  this  young  lady, 
making  no  claims  to  the  honors  you  have  named,  at 
least  while  sojourning  here  with  me,  would  be  infinitely 
more  pleased  to  have  you  address  her  as  Miss  Thurley 
and  to  treat  her  only  with  the  courtesy  attaching  to  the 
station  of  an  American  gentlewoman." 

Thurley  could  have  hugged  her  with  gratitude.  It 
placed  them  both  on  a  footing  of  making  no  pretense, 
made  her  Americanism  a  factor  to  be  expected,  and 
gave  her  a  cue  as  well.  They  had  still,  however,  to 
reckon  with  Herr  Wenck,  charged  with  important  busi- 
ness. 

"  It  is  frequently  painful,"  said  he,  bowing  pro- 
foundly, "  to  have  a  duty  that  one  must  discharge.  It 
shall  be  my  obligation,  since  your  Highness  desires  it, 
to  address  you  henceforth  as  Miss  Thurley ;  but  to  de- 
liver my  message  I  came,  and  I  crave  your  Imperial  — 
your  American  —  pardon  if  I  feel  that  to  persist  is 
necessary." 

Thurley  sat  down,  largely  for  need  of  support.     Alice 


151 

followed  her  example.  The  men  remained  standing,  as 
rigidly  as  soldiers. 

"  You  have  a  message?  "  Thurley  inquired,  and  she 
felt  how  weak  was  the  question.  "  I  should  be  sorry 
indeed  to  interfere  in  the  discharge  of  your  duties." 

It  was  a  skillful  speech,  claiming  nothing,  consenting 
to  as  much  as  the  agent  of  Hertzegotha  chose  to  be- 
lieve. 

Beneath  her  breath  Alice  said,  "  Bravo,  little  girl ! 
You're  a  wonder !  " 

Herr  Wenck  appeared  enormously  relieved.  "  Your 
graciousness  is  overwhelming,"  he  told  her  gravely, 
having  feared  for  the  failure  of  his  mission.  "  I  bear 
the  message  that  the  imperial  Government  of  Hertze- 
gotha is  exceedingly  distressed  at  the  unexampled  dis- 
appearance and  absence  of  her  Imperial  Highness  the 
Princess  Thirvinia  from  the  Kingdom,  and  to  beg  her, 
in  all  humility,  to  return  at  the  earliest  possible  mo- 
ment." 

Thurley  could  have  smiled,  had  the  situation  not 
presented  the  gravest  of  phases,  from  the  viewpoint  of 
this  special  agent  from  a  Germanic  principality.  She 
could  see  no  open  course  but  that  of  continuing  a 
species  of  candor  that,  if  it  slightly  but  harmlessly  mis- 
led these  visitors,  would  at  least  not  jeopardize  Alice 
and  make  her  ridiculous. 

"  I  fear  I  may  not  promise  at  this  time  to  leave  New 
York  or  America,"  she  said.  "  I  trust  my  declaration 
will  in  no  way  compass  your  discredit  with  your  su- 
periors." 

"  But,"  said  the  eager  Wenck,  overimportunate  in 
his  worry,  "  if  you  could  but  realize  the  calamity  — 
its  proportions  —  the  uneasiness  —  the  fears !  Think 


152  THURLEY  RUXTON 

of  the  many  disasters  that  may  result,  should  your  ab- 
sense  be  longer  continued!  Already  your  fiance,  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Saxe  Hertze  and  Heimer,  has  likewise 
disappeared  —  perhaps  to  cross  the  ocean  that  he  may 
find  you  and  induce  your  return !  " 

"I  knew  he  had  disappeared  —  I  knew  —  I  read  — " 
said  Thurley,  checking  a  speech  she  felt  might  con- 
tribute too  much  to  the  agent's  uneasiness.  "  But 
I  do  not  expect  to  see  him,  I  assure  you  —  I  mean,  I 
am  exceedingly  sorry  you  have  been  occasioned  so 
much  anxiety,  and  I  wish  I  might  relieve  it;  but  I  can- 
not think  of  going  to  Hertzegotha." 

"But  —  not  see  him,  if  he  shall  arrive?"  said  the 
desperately  concerned  Herr  Wenck,  horrified  anew  at 
increasing  disasters  in  the  recalcitrance  of  the  "  Prin- 
cess," whose  conduct  was  immeasurably  distressing. 
"  Is  not  his  royal  regard,  the  gravity  of  the  alliance  — 
If  he  shall  not  induce  your  return,  what  hope  has 
Hertzegotha  ?  " 

Both  Alice  and  Thurley  were  amply  aware  of  his 
mental  and  patriotic  agony.  Their  sympathy  could 
scarcely  have  been  withheld,  so  fearfully  earnest  was  his 
pain. 

"  He  may  not  come,"  said  Thurley.  "  Really,  I 
know  nothing  of  his  movements  at  all,  nothing  save 
what  the  papers  here  have  printed." 

"We  have  reason  to  believe  he  is  soon  to  arrive," 
Herr  Wenck  informed  her  decisively.  "  If  it  is  only 
your  promise  I  may  take  that  you  will  grant  him  audi- 
ence, should  he  present  himself,  I  shall  a  little  feel  en- 
couraged and  much  experience  gratification." 

Thurley  glanced  at  Alice,  who,  having  at  first  view 
feared  the  danger  of  such  a  contretemps,  and  almost 


WENCK,  FOR  HERTZEGOTHA  153 

as  swiftly  concluded  that  the  Duke,  should  he  come, 
would  be  the  last  to  divulge  the  facts  which,  of  course, 
he  must  instantly  discover.  Her  nod  was  the  slightest 
possible  gesture  of  the  head.  The  eyes  of  Herr  Wenck 
and  his  companion  were  fixed  beseechingly  on  Thurley. 

She  faced  them  again,  a  lovely  flush  of  color  creeping 
round  her  throat  to  inundate  her  cheeks.  "  If  he 
wishes  to  come  and  see  me  here,  perhaps  he  may,"  she 
answered  tremulously,  tingling  and  alarmed  at  the 
prospect;  "but  you  may  be  disappointed  by  results." 

"  But  your  love  of  the  Fatherland !  "  said  Wenck 
passionately,  his  eyes  and  voice  abruptly  flooded  with 
tears.  "  Your  eversung  nobility  of  character,  your 
loyalty  to  all  that  is  good  and  dutiful!  These  you 
cannot  abandon !  Some  exalted  purpose  you  are  doubt- 
less serving ;  but  the  call  of  the  home  land,  the  whispers 
of  ancestors  long  silent  in  honorable  graves,  the 
voice  of  Hertzegotha's  traditions,  the  love  of  your 
people,  —  these  —  these  you  cannot  help  but  hear ! 
And  your  heart  must  answer !  Turn  again  —  and 
your  longing  take  you  home!"  He  broke  down,  and 
Thurley  and  Alice  were  profoundly  affected.  His  evi- 
dent anxiety  and  country  love  were  singularly  poignant. 

His  comrade  still  stared  straight  ahead,  his  face  gal- 
vanically  twitching.  There  was  silence  for  a  minute 
which  seemed  tremendously  protracted. 

"  Forgive  me  if  I  have  erred !  "  begged  the  man,  con- 
trolling his  emotions  by  an  effort.  "  It  was  my  heart 
that  spoke,  not  my  office.  With  your  promise  to  see 
your  noble  fiance,  should  he  appear,  I  am  content." 
He  advanced  and,  kneeling  by  the  chair  where  Thur- 
ley had  suddenly  risen,  took  her  hand  in  both  of  his 
own  and  once  more  raised  it  to  his  lips. 


154  THURLEY  RUXTON 

And  when  they  were  gone,  leaving  visions  of  the  pro- 
foundest  bows  and  a  backing  out  at  the  door,  Alice 
and  Thurley  stood  still  silent  and  motionless,  groping 
for  wits  a  trifle  scattered. 

Then  a  characteristic  Alice-ism  snapped  the  tension. 
"  Whew !  "  she  said,  "  the  soup  thickens !  " 

"  Alice,"  said  Thurley,  "  what  on  earth  are  we  going 
to  do?  " 

Alice  smiled  and  shrugged  her  shoulders.  "  Wait 
till  we  come  to  the  bridge  before  we  cross  it." 

"  But  this  Grand  Duke  of  —  something  or  other 
would  know  in  a  minute  that  there  was  nothing  royal 
in  my  blood." 

"  I  am  not  at  all  convinced  of  that,"  said  Alice 
sagely ;  "  but  whatever  he  discovers,  mark  my  word,  he 
will  keep  to  himself." 

Thurley  was  silent  for  a  moment.  "  Poor  Herr 
Wenck ! "  she  finally  observed.  "  It  seems  too  bad  to 
let  him  deceive  himself  so  utterly;  but  what  in  the 
world  could  I  do?  Where  do  you  suppose  the  real 
Princess  Thirvinia  is  hiding?  " 

"  How  long  she  will  keep  it  up  is  the  question  that 
bothers  me,"  said  Alice  honestly.  "  As  it  is  at  present, 
we  are  having  all  the  fun." 

"Yes,"  said  Thurley  in  her  philosophic  wisdom, 
"  and  we  may  have  to  pay  all  the  price." 

Her  speech  was  amazingly  prophetic. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

LADY    BOUNTIFUL 

SATURDAY  morning  brought  Thurley  a  second  letter 
from  her  cousin.  It  was  short  and  weakly  scrawled; 
but  yet  sufficed  to  arouse  a  deep  and  insistent  sense  of 
shame  in  the  breast  of  the  generous  girl.  Her  cousin 
was  ill  and  in  want.  She  had  been  for  a  week  almost 
abandoned,  too  exhausted  and  afflicted  to  write,  and 
hopeless  with  loneliness  and  the  barren  prospect  of  the 
future.  She  mentioned  the  fact  that  she  had  written 
before ;  but  feared  the  letter  had  failed  to  reach  its  des- 
tination. Should  this  one  share  a  similar  fate,  she 
knew  not  what  to  do. 

A  burning  little  accusation  seared  its  way  to  Thur- 
ley's  heart.  She  had  first  neglected,  then  forgotten, 
that  first  appeal,  absolutely.  Engrossed  with  the  joys 
and  ecstasies  of  her  own  altered  circumstances,  she  had 
carelessly  permitted  the  lodgment  of  a  heartless  dis- 
regard of  everyone  else  in  the  world,  she  told  herself 
severely,  for  which  she  was  heartily  ashamed. 

She  resolved  to  go  to  Edith  at  once,  with  material 
as  well  as  personal  comfort.  And  then  she  realized  the 
danger  of  overdoing  the  role  of  Lady  Bountiful,  should 
she  dare  appear  in  any  capacity  save  that  of  another 
fellow  toiler  with  at  most  the  savings  of  her  hire.  The 
wise  thing  to  do  was  to  take  the  case  to  Alice.  This 
she  did,  and  that  wide  hearted  friend  of  the  race  was 
immediately  ready  with  assistance. 

155 


156  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

"  You  have  never  thrown  away  that  suit  you  wore 
while  working  for  the  Major,"  she  said.  "  Just  put 
that  on,  and  James  can  drive  you  to  the  Major's 
office.  I'll  ask  him  to  take  you  to  the  house  where 
your  cousin  lives,  leaving  you,  of  course,  at  the  door, 
and  returning  in  half  an  hour  at  most  to  escort  you 
away  again." 

"  But  why  not  let  me  run  over  to  the  Madison  Ave- 
nue cars  and  go  down  there  by  myself?  "  said  Thurley. 
"  As  long  as  I'm  just  a  plain  American  girl,  why  take 
all  that  needless  trouble?  " 

"  Very  well,"  said  Alice :  "  Take  as  much  money  as 
you  like,  my  dear,  so  long  as  it  doesn't  appear  unreas- 
onable. And  try  to  induce  your  cousin  to  leave  New 
York  —  go  to  Lakewood,  or  Atlantic  City  —  for  an 
absolute  change  and  rest.  Tell  her  a  friend  of  yours, 
of  a  philanthropic  turn  of  mind,  has  heard  her  story 
and  agreed  to  help  you  bear  the  expense." 

A  strange  little  feeling  of  impending  fates  attacked 
Thurley's  heart  as  she  put  away  her  dainty  morning 
costume,  robed  herself  like  a  drab  Cinderella  returning 
to  her  ashes,  and  left  the  gorgeous  palace  for  an  ex- 
cursion to  a  part  of  town  long  since  abandoned  to  the 
needs  of  those  to  whom  bare  existence  is  a  problem. 
She  bore  two  parcels  in  her  arms,  one  of  fruit  and  one 
of  flowers.  Someway,  she  felt  as  if  something  might 
occur  whereby  she  would  never  more  regain  the  splendid 
realm  where  chance  and  Alice  had  placed  her. 

How  much  she  loved  this  newer  life  could  scarcely 
have  been  reckoned.  To  surrender  it  now  would  be  al- 
most more  than  her  eager  heart  could  support.  And  yet 
she  did  not  hesitate  to  continue  on  her  way  with  her 
customary  courage.  She  did  not  know  that  barely  be- 


LADY  BOUNTIFUL  157 

hind  her  loitered  a  man  whose  business  it  was  to  keep 
her  in  view  and  report  her  every  action  to  the  woman 
of  the  ice  cold  eyes,  seen  and  dreaded  at  the  Horse 
Show. 

When  she  boarded  the  car  the  man  had  already  swung 
to  the  step,  exciting  no  suspicion  in  her  mind.  He  sat 
half  the  car  length  away,  apparently  reading  a  paper, 
but  never  for  a  second  failing  to  keep  her  in  the  focus 
of  his  vision. 

When  at  last  she  rose  to  alight  at  one  of  the  over- 
crowded streets  between  14th  and  23d,  the  shadow  de- 
parted by  the  exit  at  the  front  of  the  car  and  managed 
to  let  her  overtake  and  pass  him  before  he  moved,  when 
he  crossed  the  street  and  appeared  to  be  studying  the 
numbers  of  the  houses  as  he  quietly  followed. 

When  she  rang  at  and  entered  the  door  of  one  of  the 
old-fashioned  brownstone  houses,  in  a  room  of  which 
her  cousin  was  slowly  convalescing  from  nervous  com- 
plications and  fever,  the  man  in  the  street,  all  eagerness 
to  inform  his  confederates  of  Thurley's  whereabouts, 
dared  not  for  a  moment  leave  the  neighborhood,  lest 
she  presently  emerge  from  the  building  and  be  lost  at 
once  to  view. 

Thurley  found  Miss  Steck  much  reduced,  yet  able  to 
be  up  and  about  the  house  in  a  languid,  dispirited  man- 
ner. Edith  was  thoroughly  astonished  to  see  her  thus 
appear,  having  written  as  before  to  New  Haven,  in  the 
absence  of  definite  knowledge  as  to  where  her  cousin 
might  be  found. 

"  Why,  Thurley !  "  she  cried,  when  the  door  opened, 
admitting  her  rosy-cheeked  visitor.  "  Oh,  I  never  was 
so  glad  to  see  anybody  in  all  my  life!  "  And  breaking 
down  at  once,  she  cried  uncontrollably,  Thurley  mean- 


158  THUBXEY  RUXTON 

time  having  quickly  advanced,  to  throw  her  arms  sup- 
portingly  about  her  and  draw,  her  snugly  against  her 
sympathetic  bosom. 

"  There,  there !  "  she  said  coaxingly.  "  You  poor 
dear  girl!  I  just  got  your  letter  this  morning.  It 
came  to  the  office;  so  I  asked  permission  to  come  just  as 
soon  as  I  could." 

Edith  was  older  than  herself  and  only  girlish  now  in 
her  helplessness;  yet  to  neither  girl  did  the  situation 
seem  the  least  incongruous,  Thurley  was  so  entirely 
her  cousin's  superior. 

"  I  didn't  think  I  had  a  friend  in  the  world,"  said 
Edith,  continuing  weak,  and  shaken  by  the  sobs  of  her 
sudden  relaxation  from  the  courage  with  which  she  had 
fought  out  her  lonely  battle.  "  I  wrote  you  once  be- 
fore; but  the  letter  must  have  gone  astray.  I  saw 
someone  a  little  like  you,  and  thought  I'd  give  the  world 
just  to  look  at  you  again.  And  then  I  became  ill.  I 
thought  I  should  die,  and  wished  I  might.  The  world 
is  so  full  of  women  that  nobody  needs !  But  I  won't 
be  lugubrious,  Thurley  —  I  really  won't.  God  bless 
you  for  coming  so  quickly ! " 

A  new  tide  of  shame  swept  upward  from  Thurley 's 
heart,  thus  to  be  praised  where  she  should  be  blamed, 
but  she  sat  her  cousin  down  and  kissed  away  her  tears, 
then  started  a  lively  fusillade  of  cheers  and  questions, 
while  tearing  the  paper  from  three  giant  chrysanthe- 
mums and  plunging  their  stems  into  a  vase  of  broken 
crockery  that  stood  on  a  dingy  mantel  shelf. 

"  It's  a  wonder  we  haven't  met  before,"  she  said.  "  I 
began  to  work  in  a  down-town  office  away  back  in  the 
early  part  of  the  summer.  But  a  lot  of  the  writing 
was  the  sort  I  could  do  at  home,  and  I  was  lonely,  too, 


LADY  BOUNTIFUL  159 

and  trying  to  save  my  salary  as  much  as  possible;  so 
I  didn't  attempt  to  go  out  very  much.  And  New  York 
is  a  great  big  place,  anyway,  and  horrid,  some  parts 
of  it.  And  you've  got  to  promise  me  right  this  minute 
you'll  go  down  to  Lakewood  or  Atlantic  City;  for  a 
lady  I  know  insisted  upon  it  the  very  first  thing,  when 
I  told  her  about  you  this  morning,  and  I've  brought 
you  the  money  to  pay  all  expenses  for  six  or  eight  weeks 
or  more." 

Edith  sat  up  and  stared.  "  Thurley  Ruxton,"  she 
gasped,  "  what  in  the  world  are  you  talking  about,  I'd 
like  to  know?  I?  Go  away  like  that?  " 

"  Certainly,"  said  Thurley.     "  Don't  you  want  to?  " 

Edith  almost  collapsed  upon  her  breast  in  happiness 
and  the  sudden  vanishment  of  struggle.  She  cried 
again ;  but  softly  now,  and  in  a  manner  to  comfort  her 
being.  "  You're  taking  your  own  precious  money ! " 
she  said.  "  If  you  are,  you  sha'n't !  I'll  never  budge 
a  step ;  for  I  know  how  hard  it  is  to  earn !  " 

"  I'm  not,"  said  Thurley,  who  had  never  felt  a  sense 
of  actual  ownership  in  the  fortune  placed  at  her  order 
in  the  bank.  "  If  you  don't  accept  this  off er  cheerfully 
and  bravely,  recognizing  one  woman's  right  in  helping 
another,  I  shall  be  ashamed  ever  to  ask  the  giver  again, 
and  you  don't  know  what  you  may  spoil  for  other 
girls." 

"  It  seems  too  good  to  be  true,"  said  Edith,  attempt- 
ing a  wistful  smile.  "  What  good  would  it  do  if  I  took 
your  earnings,  Thurley,  and  then  later  on  you  should 
be  in  this  condition  yourself?  "  She  waved  her  hand 
weakly  to  indicate  the  shabbiness  of  the  apartment. 

"  We'll  not  talk  about  that,"  was  Thurley's  answer. 
"  I've  been  halfway  promised  that  you  shall  have  an 


160  THURLEY  RUXTON 

easy  position  at  a  decent  salary,  whenever  you're  well 
enough  to  come  back  to  New  York  and  accept  it.  But 
the  very  first  thing  is  to  get  you  out  of  here  and  off, 
where  the  change  will  be  complete.  If  you  think  you 
can  go  this  afternoon,  the  fairy  godmother  said  she'd 
send  round  a  carriage  to  drive  you  to  the  station.  I'll 
send  you  in  a  number  of  things  she  said  you'd  better 
have." 

Again  Edith  stared  in  wan  incredulity,  her  hollow 
eyes  big  with  astonishment.  "  Why  —  but  think  of  the 
money  all  that  means !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  How  does  it 
happen?  How  did  you  find  her?  Think  of  the  trust 
she  must  have  in  —  Thurley,  she  must  love  you,  I'm 
sure,  love  you  dearly,  as  everyone  does  you've  ever 
known !  Perhaps  you  can't  tell  me  much  about  her  — 
they  so  rarely  wish  to  be  known.  But,  oh,  I  think  it's 
beautiful  to  be  loved  as  they  all  love  you ! " 

Thurley  remained  for  about  two  hours,  and  departed 
then  at  Edith's  reiterated  wish.  The  girl  who  had 
found  the  world  so  hard  was  oversolicitous  lest  her 
cousin  abuse  the  privilege  granted  by  some  generous  em- 
ployer who  had  released  her  for  the  morning.  Recur- 
rent waves  of  conscious  guilt  at  her  inability  to  be  abso- 
lutely frank  and  honest  a  little  marred  Thurley's  pleas- 
ure and  gnawed  rather  deep,  especially  at  her  cousin's 
appreciation  of  all  she  was  attempting  at  last  to  do. 
Nevertheless,  the  affection  she  bestowed  was  genuine,  as 
her  sympathy  was  true,  and  when  she  had  gone  she  was 
happier  by  far  than  for  any  day  since  Edith's  first 
letter  had  come. 

With  lavish  hand  and  a  purse  of  magic  resourceful- 
ness she  ordered  outfits  to  be  sent  to  the  house  that  had 
^arbored  care.  She  was  followed  persistently,  wherever 


LADY  BOUNTIFUL  161 

she  traveled,  by  the  man  who  had  hung  upon  her  trail. 
When  at  length  she  went  home,  a  tired,  gleeful  little 
person,  with  at  least  the  heart  of  a  happy  Princess  in 
her  bosom,  the  man  was  tremendously  relieved.  He 
hastened  away  at  once,  to  report  the  unusual  occur- 
rences which  supplied  the  first  hope  to  a  little  clique  of 
beings  abnormally  engrossed  in  the  movements  and  do- 
ings of  Alice  Van  Kirk's  protegee. 

Edith  departed  in  the  afternoon ;  but  not  before  a  rep- 
resentative delegated  by  the  clique  in  question  had  made 
an  excuse  to  call,  offer  further  aid  and  friendship,  and 
thereby  secure  in  Thurley's  cousin  a  possible  agent  for 
future  exploitation.  A  woman,  wholly  unknown  to  Miss 
Steck,  was  then  instructed  to  follow  the  girl  to  Lake- 
wood,  whither  she  was  going,  and  remain  there,  keeping 
her  constantly  in  view  and  if  possible  gain  her  trust  and 
friendship. 

Edith  had  agreed  to  write  to  her  cousin  at  Major 
Phipps's  address  —  and  thereby  hangs  a  tale.  Alice, 
having  for  some  unknown  reason  undergone  a  certain 
worry  in  Thurley's  absence,  was  not  only  inordinately 
pleased  to  see  her  return  in  such  excellent  spirits,  but 
was  likewise  thoroughly  glad  that  Edith  Steck  was  to 

g°- 

"  She  must  rest  for  at  least  two  months,"  she  said 

at  the  end  of  Thurley's  story.  "  New  York  and  she  are 
better  far  apart.  She  might  even  secure  a  nice  position 
down  there  in  the  pines.  I  think  perhaps  she  will." 

She  made  a  note  of  the  possibility,  which  thereupon 
became  a  highly  probable  development,  when  the  mo- 
ment should  advise  that  Edith  Steck  had  better  be  de- 
tained away  from  the  Kingdom  of  Princess  Thirvinia. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE   SOUP   THICKENS   MORE 

THE  next  few  days  developed  a  number  of  factors,  ex- 
citements, and  skirmishes  leading  toward  things  cli- 
macteric. 

Thurley  and  Alice  had  never  been  so  completely  en- 
grossed with  social  functions  and  diversions.  On  two 
successive  nights  they  attended  the  opera,  both  occa- 
sions being  notable  for  brilliance  and  increasing  furore 
of  the  socially  elect  over  the  many  appearances  of  the 
"  Princess,"  the  persistence  with  which  Alice  Van  Kirk 
evaded  any  and  all  allusions  to  her  guest's  identity, 
and  the  unanimous  infatuation  of  all  the  men  permitted 
to  come  within  her  circle. 

Annoyances  by  the  daily  press,  sufficiently  persist- 
ent from  the  first,  were  rapidly  multiplied  as  reporters, 
camera  demons,  and  ridiculous  rumors  hung  upon  Thur- 
ley's  movements  night  and  day. 

Despite  it  all,  she  rode  her  horse  three  mornings, 
fairly  early,  accompanied  by  her  groom  on  two  ex- 
cursions. The  hour  she  chose  was  one  in  which  the  park 
was  practically  deserted  by  the  smarter  set,  who  fre- 
quently ride  for  display.  But  the  newspaper  men 
were  on  hand  the  second  morning,  while  on  the  third 
Kelsey  Wood  "  accidentally  "  appeared  in  the  saddle 
path,  galloped  to  her  side,  and  improved  the  opportunity 
for  which  he  had  longed  with  a  cheer  she  could  not  have 
discouraged. 

162 


THE  SOUP  THICKENS  MORE  163 

The  news  of  Wood's  clever  maneuver  came  duly  to  the 
ears  of  Thurley's  other  suitors  and  aroused  a  storm  of 
jealousy  and  counter  scheming.  Fiaschi  was  irritated, 
Gaillard  was  particularly  incensed.  The  Count  was  no 
rider,  but  feared  and  hated  horses  ;  while  the  college  man 
felt  that  his  special  license,  granting  him  exclusive 
rights,  had  been  unwarrantably  violated. 

The  tact  and  diplomacy  of  both  Alice  and  Thurley 
were  taxed  to  the  utmost  to  maintain  an  armistice  and 
avert  internecine  strife.  Almost  like  apportionments 
of  pie,  the  hours  of  Thurley's  day  and  evening  were 
sliced  and  awarded  to  her  clamorous  swains,  to  keep 
them  from  ravening  starvation.  To  Fiaschi  fell  a  night 
with  Thurley  at  the  opera.  Gaillard  drove  with  the 
"  Princess,"  in  her  own  victoria,  six  or  eight  times 
round  the  park.  Stuyverant  came  to  dine  at  the  royal 
palace  and  sat  with  Thurley  alone  for  nearly  an  hour 
afterward. 

The  Count,  during  the  long  and  passionate  love  scene 
depicted  in  "  Tristan  und  Isolde,"  made  a  murmured 
declaration  of  his  burning  love  and  demanded  Thur- 
ley's hand  in  marriage.  Gaillard,  oblivious  to  all  the 
world  of  carriages  and  people  about  them,  announced 
his  disgust  with  all  her  other  various  suitors,  reminded 
Thurley  of  their  past  relationship,  and  desired  her  con- 
sent forthwith  to  an  announcement  of  their  engagement. 
Stuyverant,  alone  of  the  three,  behaved  himself  like  a 
rational  being. 

How  she  had  parried  the  thrusts  of  the  Count's 
Vesuvian  flames,  or  the  jibes  of  Gaillard's  resentful  im- 
patience, Thurley  could  scarcely  have  told.  She  only 
knew  that  Fiaschi  had  become  intolerable,  the  maker 
of  college  widows  impossible,  and  that  neither  had  re- 


164  THURLEY  RUXTON 

ceived  satisfaction,  though  neither  had  been  further  in- 
censed or  even  made  wholly  hopeless  or  unmollified. 

In  such  a  game  as  she  was  playing,  and  engaged  with 
such  elements  as  Gaillard  and  his  business  partner  pre- 
sented, such  timid  and  gentlemanly  courtiers  as  Stet- 
son, the  Beau,  the  Captain,  Dearborn,  and  even  Kelsey 
Woods,  were  hopelessly  distanced.  Had  it  not  been  for 
constant  intercessions  in  their  behalf  on  the  part  ot 
Alice,  these  less  aggressive  suitors,  with  half  a  dozen 
more  of  similar  caliber,  must  have  suffered  all  but  ab- 
solute annihilation. 

Stuyverant,  occupying  a  position  unique  among  them 
all,  yet  unaware  of  the  sheer  relief  with  which  Thurley 
turned  to  him  as  often  as  the  game  would  permit,  con- 
tinued to  be  sorely  puzzled  by  it  all,  while  plunging 
more  and  more  helplessly  in  love  with  the  girl  to  whom 
he  felt  he  had  been  guided  by  the  Fates. 

There  were  times  when  it  seemed  impossible  to  acquit 
her  of  utter  heartlessness,  times  when  he  felt  convinced 
that  she  had  come  to  America,  not  to  make  an  alliance, 
but  merely  to  practice  arts  grown  weary  in  conquest  at 
the  court  of  Hertzegotha.  And  if  it  should  prove  that 
she  was  merely  amusing  herself  with  them  all,  himself 
included,  he  could  not  see  how  beauty,  graciousness,  im- 
pulsive generosity,  or  any  other  of  her  many  bewitching 
qualities,  could  sufficiently  excuse  her  conduct.  Never- 
theless, he  confessed  to  himself  that  he  had  rather  have 
known  her  even  thus  than  never  to  have  met  her  at  all. 

Meantime,  independently  of  Thurley's  actions  or 
wishes  in  the  matter,  Fiaschi  and  Gaillard  were  arming 
for  a  bitter  struggle  that  bore  on  events  not  yet  even 
shadowed  in  the  day.  Each,  having  recognized  in  the 
other  an  insistent  and  tenacious  rival  for  Thurley's  final 


THE  SOUP  THICKENS  MORE  165 

favor,  had  determined  to  exercise  any  possible  advan- 
tage for  his  opponent's  overthrow. 

The  difference  between  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Latin 
temperament  was  herein  nicely  illustrated.  They  were 
business  associates,  working  together  for  a  common  end 
that  should  benefit  them  both.  This  to  Gaillard  was 
entirely  apart  from  their  sentimental  battle,  and  sacred 
to  business  ethics  and  honor.  To  Fiaschi  it  was  one 
more  element  for  a  possible  crushing  of  the  enemy. 
Gaillard  would  have  felt  entire  justification  in  attack- 
ing the  Count  from  a  moral  or  a  physical  viewpoint, 
and  leaving  him  with  either  a  crippled  body  or  a  shat- 
tered reputation,  while  still  maintaining  the  strictest 
scruples  in  their  deal,  which  centered  in  the  Street.  The 
Spanish-Italian,  on  the  other  hand,  was  already  delib- 
erately planning  his  rival's  financial  ruin,  through 
treachery  to  their  business  agreement.  He  would 
gladly  have  stripped  Acton  Gaillard  of  name,  honor, 
funds,  or  physical  prowess,  and  to  some  such  end  he 
was  bending  all  his  forces,  fiercely  determined  as  he  was 
to  win  the  object  of  his  covetous  passions. 

Wednesday  of  that  eventful  week  was  scheduled  for 
developments  disturbing  and  sensational.  Thurley 
returned  to  the  avenue  home  at  four  in  the  afternoon 
from  a  drive  with  Lady  Honore  Calthorp  and  Kelsey 
Woods,  expecting  to  dress  for  afternoon  tea  and  be 
driven  to  a  rendezvous  with  Alice,  that  they  might  pro- 
ceed together  to  Mrs.  Ashley  Duane's. 

She  found  a  note  on  her  table,  addressed  in  the  once 
familiar  hand  of  Acton  Gaillard.  It  was  brief  but 
charged  with  significance: 

You  evaded  my  proposal  and  gave  me  no  definite  answer 


166  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

in  the  park.     I  wish  to  know,  once  for  all  and  without 
delay,  Will  you  be  my  wife?     My  sort  of  love  can  endure 
no  more  of  this  suspense  and  torture.     With  vivid  mem- 
ories of  the  things  that  have  been, 
Ever  indulgently  and  longingly  yours, 

ACTON. 


The  threat  was  there,  veiled,  but  none  the  less  appar- 
ent to  her  keen  perceptive  faculties,  and  Thurley  was 
perturbed  to  the  depths  of  her  girlishly  timid  heart. 

She  had  hoped  to  postpone  this  too  definite  issue,  — 
hold  Gaillard  away  as  she  held  the  others,  according 
to  her  promise  made  to  Alice.  Her  impulse  from  the 
first  had  been  to  tell  him  precisely  what  he  was  and  dis- 
miss him  forever  from  her  life.  She  realized  her  help-' 
lessness,  however,  and  the  power  of  his  knowledge  of  the 
past.  She  was  vexed  and  frightened  together,  loathing 
the  man  for  attempting  to  take  this  advantage  of  the 
situation,  yet  afraid  to  answer  to  his  curt  demand  with 
the  scorn  and  indignation  that  he  had  always  merited. 
She  was  wholly  unstrung,  especially  in  the  absence  of 
Alice,  on  whom  she  had  learned  to  lean  for  the  wisdom 
and  calm  of  her  ripened  worldliness. 

She  still  stood  unmoving,  the  letter  in  her  hand,  while 
her  maids,  Annette  and  Sophie,  were  patiently  awaiting 
her  pleasure  to  be  dressed,  when  one  of  the  servants 
knocked  at  the  door  and  delivered  a  card,  which  Sophie 
received  and  carried  at  once  to  her  mistress. 

Thurley  took  it  mechanically,  glanced  at  the  name, 
and  suddenly  felt  a  new  sensation  of  wonder.  On  the 
card  was  written,  in  a  woman's  hand : 

Countess  Viziano  y  Fiaschi. 


THE  SOUP  THICKENS  MORE  167 

She  turned  to  her  maid,  wholly  unable  to  understand 
the  meaning  of  the  situation.  "  You  are  sure  this  card 
was  for  me?  " 

"  Yes,  Mam'selle." 

A  weight  as  of  something  ominous  seemed  hovering 
oppressively  in  the  air.  A  sense  as  of  disturbing  reve- 
lations, or  even  menace,  in  this  unexpected  visit,  took 
possession  of  her  mind.  Who  the  Countess  could  be 
and  what  the  purpose  of  her  appearance  thus,  were  be- 
yond her  powers  of  conjecture.  She  reflected  rapidly 
that  a  scene  might  be  impending,  and  a  feverish  wish 
for  Alice  increased  her  indecision. 

Flashes  of  intuition  laid  bare  startling  thoughts  in 
swiftly  moving  progression.  Whence,  unexpectedly, 
came  her  courage,  and  even  a  desire  to  behold  this  mys- 
terious visitor,  she  could  not  herself  have  determined. 
She  merely  knew,  abruptly,  that  to  see  this  Countess 
might  even  be  a  duty  to  them  all. 

"  You  may  wait,"  she  said  to  the  expectant  maids, 
and  proceeded  lightly  down  the  stairs. 

A  moment  later  she  entered  the  reception  room,  and 
a  small,  dark-eyed  young  woman,  flaming  both  in- 
wardly and  outwardly,  rose  from  a  chair  to  confront 
her. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

A  SINGULAR  ALLIANCE 

FOR  a  moment  Thurley  and  her  visitor  stood  face  to 
face,  each  taking,  as  it  were,  mental  measurement  of  the 
other. 

Thurley  was  the  first  to  speak.  "  You  wished  to  see 
me?  " 

The  breath  of  the  Countess  was  coming  rapidly,  as 
the  agitated  rise  and  fall  of  her  bosom  sufficiently  ad- 
vertised. She  spoke  in  French.  "  You  are  Princess 
Thirvinia,  known  here  in  New  York  as  Miss  Thurley?  " 

"  I  am  known  here  in  New  York,  as  Miss  Thurley, 
certainly.  Do  you  not  speak  English?  "  Thurley  an- 
swered. "  Will  you  not  be  seated  and  state  your  er- 
rand with  me  as  promptly  as  possible?  " 

The  young  woman  made  no  response  to  either  query. 
She  stared  at  the  "  Princess "  wdth  blazing,  resent- 
ful eyes,  while  her  color  disappeared,  robbing  her  face 
of  something  suggestive  of  damask  smoothness,  bloom, 
and  texture.  She  was  on  the  whole  a  striking  little 
person,  with  a  piquant  attractiveness  that  was  empha- 
sized by  a  nose  slightly  retrousse  and  a  vivid  bit  of  coral 
mouth. 

"  You  are  very  beautiful !  "  she  said,  as  if  reluctantly 
admitting  an  inescapable  fact,  or  even  making  an  accu- 
sation. "  What  right  have  you  to  follow  my  husband 
to  America?  He  is  my  husband,  and  you  shall  not  en- 
tice him  away ! " 

168 


A  SINGULAR  ALLIANCE  169 

Thurley  elevated  her  brows.  "  Who  is  he,  then?  If 
you  refer  to  Count  Fiaschi  —  " 

"  You  know  I  refer  to  Count  Fiaschi !  "  interrupted 
the  fiery  little  parcel  of  Gallicism.  "  Do  you  think 
Countess  Fiaschi  shall  be  his  mother?  Do  I  look  like 
that  ?  He  shall  be  my  husband  —  all !  He  is  not  to  be 
shared  with  any  German  Princess !  You  will  find  I  am 
not  so  small  in  my  rights  !  " 

Thurley  was  far  from  being  awed.  She  might  have 
been  near  to  amusement,  had  not  the  affair  partaken 
of  too  much  gravity.  "  I  have  no  wish  to  share  your 
husband,"  she  said.  "  I  was  not  aware  he  had  a  wife, 
nor  have  I  followed  anyone  here  from  Europe." 

Magnificent  scorn  was  massed  upon  the  piquant  little 
face.  "  Ah !  When  all  this  land  is  talking  of  his  mad- 
ness for  yourself.  Perhaps  you  will  deny  you  are  Prin- 
cess Thirvinia,  whose  golden-haired  spell  was  cast 
about  him  on  the  Continent  ?  " 

"  I  am  sorry  if  you  do  not  believe  what  I  say,"  said 
Thurley  quietly.  "  I  am  glad  you  came,  glad  to  know 
the  Count  is  married,  glad  to  tell  you  I  despise 
him,  —  dislike  him  exceedingly,  more  than  ever  now, 
since  this  reveals  him  in  a  new  and  unsuspected  mean- 
ness of  spirit.  I  will  give  you  any  comfort  you  desire 
so  far  as  he  is  concerned." 

Her  visitor  gazed  at  her  almost  blankly,  so  vast  was 
her  incredulity.  "  Despise  him  —  any  woman,  despise 
him,"  she  said,  "  with  his  soul,  his  fire,  his  sentiment?  " 
Then  she  suddenly  broke  down  and  wept  as  pent 
heavens  sometimes  weep  when  a  storm  has  massed  their 
tears.  "  You  are  beautiful,"  she  repeated ;  "  but  I  be- 
lieve you.  I  want  your  help.  I  came  for  your  assist- 
ance ;  not  to  accuse,  to  implore.  I  am  not  so  beautiful 


170  THURLEY  RUXTON 

as  you ;  but  yet  I  love  him.  Perhaps  this  is  my  curse. 
Who  knows?  I  must  love  him,  nevertheless!  I  would 
die  for  his  joy.  He  is  more  needful  to  me  than  my  soul, 
more  to  be  desired  than  salvation !  If  you  do  not  love 
him,  tell  him  so,  drive  him  away,  and  he  will  come  to 
me  for  the  kisses  he  says  are  sweet!  You  will  despise 
him,  Princess  —  you  will  promise  this  ?  " 

"With  all  my  heart,"  said  Thurley  honestly. 
"  Whatsoever  may  seem  to  be  my  attitude,  you  may  be 
sure  I  shall  despise  him  and  do  all  in  my  power  to  send 
him  away  as  soon  as  possible." 

"  It  shall  be  soon  ?  "  implored  the  thoroughly  altered 
little  being.  "  I  am  his  true  and  lawful  wife,  though 
he  wish  to  divorce  me  through  a  purchased  dispensa- 
tion." 

Thurley  felt  a  woman's  sympathy  welling  in  her 
breast  for  this  desperately  tortured  little  Countess, 
even  as  something  akin  to  rage  or  indignation  at 
Fiaschi  surged  in  her  veins.  She  continued  upon  the 
subject  now  for  the  gratification  of  both  emotions. 

"  You  were  married  abroad?  " 

"  In  Paris  —  and  three  months  later  he  saw  you, 
Princess !  And  I  have  hated  you  till  now." 

"  You  came  with  him  here  to  New  York?  " 

"  I  came  alone ! "  declared  the  little  being,  dashing 
away  her  tears  of  resentment  at  the  treatment  of  which 
her  husband  had  been  guilty.  "  He  shall  not  know  that 
I  am  here  till  you  send  him  away,  and  in  his  wounded 
heart  he  shall  wish  for  the  soothing  of  my  love!  Per- 
haps you  will  help  me,  let  me  know  when  you  shall  tell 
him  to  depart." 

"  Perhaps  I  may,"  said  Thurley.     "  Will  you  trust 


A  SINGULAR  ALLIANCE  171 

me  a  little,  give  me  time,  believe  me,  though  I  may  find 
myself  obliged  to  see  him  even  frequently  again?  " 

"  If  you  shall  not  -learn  to  love  him,"  said  the 
Countess,  smiling  wistfully,  "  I  can  wait  nearly  all  my 
life.  I  could  almost  wait  to  have  him  at  last  in  Heaven ; 
but  —  Mary  forgive  me !  —  this  life  is  a  little  more 
sure.  You  will  surely  continue  to  hate  him  always  as 
now?" 

"  Perhaps  even  more,"  was  Thurley's  answer.  "  I'd 
like  to  be  your  friend." 

She  offered  her  hand.  With  another  burst  of  uncon- 
trollable tears  the  little  flame  incarnate  sank  on  her 
knees  as  she  took  it  and  pressed  it  against  her  cheek. 

"  I  came  to  hate  —  and  I  must  love  you !  "  she  said. 
"  To  think  I  can  be  so  glad  to  leave  all  my  happiness, 
my  hope,  my  life,  in  your  keeping !  You  will  not  forget, 
I  know!  "  She  staggered  to  her  feet  and  went  blindly 
groping  for  the  door. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

A   DUKE   IMPENDING 

THUBLEY  was  presently  back  in  her  room;  but  not  to 
be  dressed  for  tea.  She  was  far  too  disturbed  by  what 
she  had  learned  to  think  of  anything  save  the  necessity 
of  seeing  Alice  alone  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

She  sat  before  a  dressing  case;  but  had  waved  her 
maids  away.  She  was  staring  idly  at  the  fineries  in- 
tended for  the  afternoon.  Fiaschi,  she  knew,  would  be 
at  Mrs.  Ashley  Duane's,  and  the  thought  of  beholding 
the  man  again  was  revolting  to  all  her  nature. 

What  Alice  would  say,  or  do,  after  this,  she  could 
not  venture  to  predict.  Alice  had  hoped  for  the  fel- 
low's punishment  before,  yet  felt  a  certain  necessity  for 
the  retention  of  his  friendship  because  of  invaluable  so- 
cial connections,  long  coveted,  and  already  filmily  estab- 
lished through  the  medium  he  represented.  But  a  new 
and  shameful  gravity  attached  to  this  latest  develop- 
ment of  the  nobleman's  nature  and  schemes,  and  con- 
tinued relations  with  him  now  were  fraught  with  highly 
explosive  possibilities. 

At  five  o'clock  Alice,  a  trifle  disturbed  by  Thurley's 
non-appearance  at  the  Duanes',  was  driven  home,  to 
find  that  the  "  Princess,"  overwrought  and  afflicted 
with  a  slight  nervous  headache,  had  gone  to  lie  down 
and  had  readily  fallen  asleep. 

At  half  past  five,  with  the  wintry  darkness  closing 
down  on  the  avenue,  and  all  the  house  lights  softly 

172 


A  DUKE  IMPENDING  173 

glowing,  the  third  sensation  scheduled  for  the  day  had 
its  formal  introduction. 

A  messenger  arrived  and  delivered  a  letter.  It  was 
addressed  to  Madame  Van  Kirk  and  "  Miss  Thurley," 
and  bore  a  coat  of  arms.  The  messenger  waited  for  an 
answer. 

Alice  tore  the  envelope  apart  and  read  as  follows: 

Honored  Madam  and  Honored  Miss  Thurley. — May  I 
so  bold  presume  myself  as  to  inform  you  his  Excellency 
Karl-Wilhelm-Herman,  Grand  Duke  of  Saxe  Hertze  and 
Heimer,  has  in  New  York  arrived,  and  of  an  audience  with 
Miss  Thurley  is  anxiously  desiring,  praying  to  be  informed 
on  this  messenger  if  he  may  not  at  your  dwelling  present 
himself  in  this  evening,  by  the  hour  of  eight  o'clock  and 
one  half.  Obediently  your  humble  servant, 

OTTO  WENCK. 

"  Good  Lord !  "  said  Alice.     "  And  the  child  asleep !  " 

But  Thurley  was  presently  very  much  awake. 

The  messenger  had  been  ushered  in  to  wait. 

"  To-night !  "  said  Thurley,  to  whom  the  situation 
had  been  made  intelligible  through  three  repetitions  and 
a  quick  perusal  of  the  note.  "  What  in  the  world  will 
happen.  What  shall  we  say?" 

"  What  can  we  do  but  face  the  music  ?  "  Alice  an- 
swered. "  We're  playing  a  game  of  consequences,  and 
the  penalties  must  be  met.  Personally,  I  like  Grand 
Dukes.  It  makes  me  wish  that  I  were  young  and  stand- 
ing in  your  shoes.  At  least  you'll  admit,  my  dear,  that 
his  Excellency  will  be  a  relief  from  some  of  the  others 
about  us  here.  I  only  hope  he  isn't  old !  " 

Thurley  was  suddenly  jolted  back  to  the  occurrences 
of  the  afternoon.  The  color  crept  upward  toward  her 


THUKLEY  RUXTON 

forehead.  "  Oh,  I've  wanted  and  needed  you  so !  "  she 
said.  "  Alice,  what  do  you  think?  Acton  Gaillard 
has  written,  demanding  an  announcement  of  his  en- 
gagement to  me,  and  Count  Fiaschi's  wife  was  here  at 
four  o'clock,  charging  me  with  having  followed  the  hor- 
rid creature  from  Europe !  " 

Alice  fairly  gasped.     "  His  wife?  " 

"  There's  her  card."  Thurley  took  it  from  the  dress- 
ing stand  and  placed  it  in  Alice's  half-paralyzed  fin- 
gers. "  I  thought  at  first  she  might  stab  me  or  some- 
thing, she  appeared  so  furiously  excited.  And  now  a 
Grand  Duke  on  the  scene !  "  She  tried  to  smile ;  but  the 
situation  was  not  altogether  humorous. 

"Oh,  well,  Deary,  what  is  the  use?  "  said  Alice,  des- 
perately resigned  to  anything,  and  shrugging  her 
shoulders  with  more  than  her  customary  eloquence. 
"  If  it's  coming  upon  us  in  landslides,  why  do  anything 
but  grin  and  try  to  remain  on  top  as  long  as  possible? 
Fiaschi  —  the  brute !  Gaillard  —  the  heavyweight 
champion !  Karl-Wilhelm  —  the  lovelorn  Viking,  if  he 
isn't  old  and  doddering,  as  Dukes  have  a  habit  of  be- 
coming! Oh,  Virtue,  where  is  thy  sting?  My  dear, 
we're  in  for  it,  both  of  us  together !  Let's  plunge !  " 

Thurley  looked  at  her  helplessly.  "  We'd  better  see 
the  Duke?  " 

"  See  him  and  raise  his  ante,"  answered  Alice  reck- 
lessly. "  The  Lord  only  knows  what  may  happen 
next !  It  may  serve  our  purposes  tremendously  to  have 
him  on  the  string." 

"  But  he'll  know,"  said  Thurley,  smiling  despite  her 
doubts  and  vague  alarms.  "  We  have  to  remember 
that." 

"  Why  not  ignore  it,  my  dear?  " 


A  DUKE  IMPENDING  175 

Thurley  made  a  gesture  of  acceptance.  "  And  after 
that  —  what  about  Acton  Gaillard  and  the  Count?" 

"  Oh,  the  Count !  We'll  grill  the  Count  when  the 
proper  time  arrives !  Leave  him  to  me !  "  Alice  rose 
and  paced  the  floor  in  growing  indignation.  "  He  has 
simply  got  to  be  trussed  and  roasted  for  this !  "  she  con- 
tinued. "  I  hope  you'll  do  everything  possible  — 
everything  that  a  nice,  affronted  girl  can  do  —  to  lead 
him  to  a  deadfall  and  let  me  drop  it  on  his  pneumo- 
ghastly  nerve !  As  for  Acton  —  did  you  say  he  dared 
to  write  ?  " 

Thurley  took  the  letter  from  a  drawer  and  delivered 
it  silently.  Alice  read  it  twice  in  half  a  minute.  "  The 
fool !  "  she  said.  "  He's  trapped  himself.  You  can  do 
as  you  please  with  Acton  after  this  !  " 

"  I  don't  see  exactly.  It  seemed  to  me  his  threat  is 
more  obvious  than  before." 

"  But  don't  you  discern,  dear  child,  that  this  is  a 
written  proposal  for  your  hand,  that  after  this  he  sim- 
ply cannot  afford  to  retail  a  story  of  your  college 
widowhood,  and  all  the  rest?  How  would  it  look,  in 
the  light  of  this  documentary  evidence  of  his  wish  to 
have  you  for  a  wife,  for  him  to  say,  *  She  is  nobody  — 
just  an  ordinary,  pretty  girl  I  knew  in  New  Haven  as 
a  tutor?  '  Don't  you  see  he  has  spiked  his  own  guns, 
placed  himself  quite  at  our  mercy  ?  " 

Thurley  looked  at  her  steadily,  while  the  truth  of 
these  conclusions  became  a  little  less  hazy.  "  I  never 
thought  of  that,  of  course.  You  are  sure  he  wouldn't 
dare  begin  to  —  tell  things  now?" 

"  Acton  Gaillard  —  with  his  vanity  ?  Dear  me ! 
There's  that  messenger  sitting  down  stairs  all  this  time 
—  and  the  poor  Grand  Duke  somewhere  fraying  out  his 


176  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

boots  with  impatience,  tramping  up  and  down!  Oh, 
heavens!  I  hope  he  doesn't  wobble!  I'll  write  the 
note  myself,  and  you  can  sign  it  with  me  if  you  wish." 

In  her  active  way  she  swooped  down  at  the  exquisite 
desk  that  stood  by  the  window  and  began  at  once  to 
write. 

Thurley  felt  a  recurrence  of  her  former  fever.  Her 
heartbeat  quickened.  "  You  are  going  to  tell  him  to 
come?  " 

"  On  the  run,"  said  Alice,  scribbling  rapidly.  "  I 
wish  I  could  set  his  clock  ahead !  "  She  concluded  her 
note  in  the  briefest  time  and  blotting  it,  held  it  up  to 
read.  "  This  is  what  I've  said : 

His  Excellenecy  will  be  most  cordially  welcome  at  the 
home  of  Mrs.  Van  Kirk,  at  the  hour  of  eight-thirty,  by 
Miss  Thurley  and  Mrs.  Van  Kirk.  Ever  faithfully  yours, 

—  and  so  forth.  Of  course  I  get  in  twice  to  your  once, 
my  dear,  but  only  in  the  note.  If  I  had  the  time  and 
the  literary  genius,  I'd  write  it  less  awkwardly.  Shall 
I  put  in  your  love  for  Karl?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Thurley,  "  and  a  garnishment  of  pars- 
ley. I'm  glad  somebody's  enjoying  all  the  fun  I'm  go- 
ing to  have." 

"  Dear  child !  "  said  Alice,  impulsively  affectionate 
at  once.  "  Would  you  have  hesitated  to  play  your 
role  had  you  known  of  all  the  things  that  were  coming?  " 
'  This  may  be  only  the  introduction,"  answered  Thur- 
ley in  her  girlishly  prophetic  manner ;  "  but,  no  matter 
what  may  come,  so  long  as  I  continue  to  please  you, 
keep  a  little  of  your  present  feeling  of  interest  and 
friendship,  I  shall  never  regret  it  for  a  moment." 

"  It's  a  feeling  of  love,"  said  Alice,  and  she  kissed 
the  girl  impulsively. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

A  ROYAL  SUITOR 

IT  was  half  past  eight.  "  Wait  till  I  get  my  breath," 
said  Thurley,  pausing  with  Alice  on  the  stairs.  "  My 
heart  is  nearly  breaking  through." 

"  So  is  mine,"  replied  the  fairy  godmother,  "  for 
fear  the  Duke  may  totter  with  age.  An  old  one  might 
not  understand  a  joke.  I  have  given  him  absent  treat- 
ment for  an  hour  to  make  him  young." 

Her  treatment  may  and  may  not  have  been  respon- 
sible; but  the  Duke  was  young. 

"  Thank  heaven ! "  she  said  to  herself  when  they  en- 
tered the  room  with  its  brilliant  lights  and  the  richness 
of  its  furnishings  and  beheld  their  royal  visitor,  uni- 
formed, decorated,  resplendent,  standing  with  easy 
military  grace  to  bow  them  into  his  presence. 

He  was  barely  more  than  a  boy, —  a  tall,  slender 
youngling  of  a  long  succession  of  Kaisers,  fine  featured, 
proud,  as  rosy  as  a  girl,  and  adorned  with  a  dark  and 
downy  mustachelet,  singularly  becoming  in  the  empha- 
sis it  lent  to  his  lip. 

Instructed  as  to  what  she  ought  to  do  at  once,  Thur- 
ley approached  their  noble  visitor  in  her  gracious,  half 
shy  manner.  Impelled  by  the  dictates  of  her  impulse, 
she  held  out  her  hand. 

The  Duke  had  immediately  raised  his  eyes  to  regard 
her  as  she  came.  A  light  of  amazement,  a  shadowy 

177 


178  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

puzzlement,  and  a  blaze  of  sheer,  uncontrollable  admira- 
tion flashed  in  quick  succession  from  the  penetrative 
gaze  he  bent  upon  her  —  and  Alice  beheld  it  all. 

Neither  she  nor  Thurley  had  more  than  discerned 
that  Otto  Wenck,  purple  with  excitement  and  solici- 
tude, was  present,  a  little  apart. 

In  the  utmost  candor  Thurley  placed  her  hand  in 
that  of  the  Duke  and  met  the  concentrated  scrutiny  of 
his  eyes.  "  I  am  Miss  Thurley,"  she  said  in  German 
that  flowed  from  her  lips  as  water  in  a  rill.  "  May  I 
assure  you  of  your  welcome  and  express  my  pleasure  at 
our  meeting?  " 

"  You  —  you  have  given  me  more  —  more  than  you 
may  possibly  derive  from  this  happy  occasion,"  he 
told  her  in  a  boyish  murmur,  charged  with  grace  and 
self  control;  and,  lifting  her  hand  to  his  lips  he  kissed 
it  softly,  then  gazed  as  before  in  the  liquid  depths  of 
her  glance. 

"May  I  present  my  —  my  fairy  godmother?"  said 
Thurley,  turning  to  Alice.  "  Mrs.  Van  Kirk." 

The  Duke  advanced  to  exchange  a  formal  salutation 
with  his  hostess  and  to  murmur  some  conventional 
ritual  of  pleasure.  Alice,  thoroughly  equal  to  the  mo- 
ment, beamed  her  brightest,  made  an  engagingly  Ameri- 
can reply  of  welcome,  and  tactfully  abandoned  the  pair 
at  once,  to  proceed  where  Wenck  was  still  engorged 
with  official  worry,  to  set  him  more  at  ease. 

Thurley  had  wished  for  assistance,  support,  in  her 
trying  situation.  The  Duke,  on  the  contrary,  seemed 
enormously  relieved  to  behold  Alice  fade  to  the  back- 
ground. 

"  It  is  a  great  surprise  to  find  you  here,"  he  said, 
which  might  have  meant  almost  anything,  as  Thurley 


A  ROYAL  SUITOR  179 

was  amply  aware.  He  added,  "  It  is  also  a  very  great 
pleasure.  I  could  not  have  believed  this  meeting  would 
so  restore  my  happiness." 

"  May  I  not  beg  you  to  be  seated?  "  said  Thurley. 
She  was  more  and  more  puzzled  by  his  attitude,  and 
was  swiftly  wondering  if  such  a  thing  could  be  possible 
as  self  delusion  on  the  part  of  such  a  fiance,  and  if, 
mayhap,  he  had  been  engaged  without  previously  meet- 
ing Princess  Thirvinia.  She  continued  nervously, 
"  You  arrived  in  New  York  this  week?  " 

"  To-day,"  said  the  Duke,  accepting  a  chair  and 
gazing  with  ill  concealed  rapture  on  Thurley's  face. 
"  I  confess  my  impatience  to  see  —  I  am  incredibly 
grateful  for  this  early  opportunity  of  discovering  — 
will  you  accept  my  declaration  of  very  great  joy  at  this 
meeting  ?  " 

Thurley  reddened  with  exquisite  fire.  "  It  is  like- 
wise a  pleasure  to  me,"  she  told  him  candidly,  still  un- 
able to  determine  precisely  the  state  of  his  mind  and 
knowledge.  "  It  is  a  greater  pleasure  than  I  had  — 
We  were  a  little  prepared  for  your  coming,  by  Herr 
Wenck."  * 

He  leaned  a  little  toward  her.  "  You  had  not  an- 
ticipated a  little  pleasure  in  my  arrival,  then?  " 

She  laughed  lightly,  the  color  playing  in  her  face  as 
the  perfume  plays  about  a  rose.  "  Isn't  it  sufficient 
that  I  betray  my  pleasure  now?  " 

"You  knew  I  had  come  a  very  great  distance,  that 
my  action  was  perhaps  without  precedent,  in  my  an- 
guished search  for  —  for  the  beautiful  —  for  the  mate 
my  heart  would  select?  " 

Thurley  nodded,  crimsoning  anew  at  the  ardor  and 
frankness  of  his  gaze.  "  I  knew  you  were  coming  — 


180  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

knew  Hertzegotha  is  —  quite  a  long  way  off.     I  knew 
that,  of  course." 

"  May  I  ask  you  other  questions  —  personal  ques- 
tions?" 

"  Why  —  certainly  —  if  you  do  not  require  that  I 
shall  answer  —  unless  I  please." 

He  smiled.  "  Do  I  seem  like  that  ?  It  is  not  so 
much  that  I  wish  to  ask  —  so  much  to  you,  perhaps ; 
but  —  Shall  you  insist  that  I  call  you  always  '  Miss 
Thurley  '  —  never  *  Princess  '  ?  " 

She  was  greatly  confused.  "  Why,  we  —  I  —  we 
have  desired  everyone  to  call  me  Miss  Thurley.  Do 
you  mind?  " 

"  Could  not  I  alone  call  you  Princess  ?  "  Brightness 
and  ardor  were  dancing  in  his  glance. 

She  was  more  than  ever  plunged  in  doubt  as  to  what 
and  how  much  or  how  little  he  had  guessed,  or  what 
could  be  the  meaning  of  his  words.  "  You  alone?  "  she 
echoed. 

"  I  alone  —  Princess.     You  have  not  called  me  Karl." 

The  tide  of  her  color  swept  upward  in  her  throat 
and  cheeks  till  the  young  Duke  felt  his  soul  madly  beat- 
ing its  wings.  Thurley  thought  if  he  knew  her  for 
other  than  the  Princess  he  was  quite  disloyal  to  the  ab- 
sent lady  and  bold  in  his  wooing  of  another. 

"  Why,  but  —  how  could  —  why  should  —  If  you 
called  me  so  —  " 

He  was  still  leaning  toward  her  eagerly.  He  inter- 
rupted her  halting,  stumbling  utterance.  His  query 
was  astonishingly  frank,  "  Have  you  engaged  yourself 
to  marry  someone  here?  " 

"Why  —  no  —  I  —  your  Excellency   doesn't  —  " 


A  ROYAL  SUITOR  181 

"  You  will  not,  then  ?  Instead,  you  will  think  of 
Hertzegotha  as  —  " 

It  was  Alice  who  came  to  the  rescue.  With  increas- 
ing alarm  and  wonder  she  had  noted  the  trend  of  the 
young  Duke's  bearing  and  had  barely  restrained  an 
earlier  impulse  to  terminate  the  interview. 

"  Oh,  your  Excellency,"  she  said,  as  she  came  in  all 
innocence  across  the  room,  "  how  very  interesting  your 
trip  across  the  water  must  have  been  !  Herr  Wenck  in- 
forms me  you  saw  three  whales  and  several  schools  of 
porpoises  —  or  did  he  see  them  himself?  " 

"  Yes,  yes  —  pardon,"  ventured  the  fiery  faced  Wenck 
desperately  from  his  stand  where  Alice  had  left  him. 
"  It  was  I." 

"  I  saw  nothing,"  said  the  Duke.  "  I  was  too  un- 
happy ;  but  to-night  —  " 

"  Some  of  us  are  very  poor  sailors,"  Alice  interrupted 
graciously.  "  I  shouldn't  be  able  to  see  anything  but  a 
continent,  and  I'm  not  at  all  certain  of  that.  You 
know,  in  strict  duty,  your  Excellency,  I  am  constrained 
to  ask  you  our  stereotyped  question :  '  How  do  you  like 
New  York? '  We  always  ask  that  of  persons  who 
have  been  five  minutes  ashore." 

The  Duke  received  her  query  with  gravity.  "  At 
noon  I  detested  all  America;  to-night  your  city  has 
my  love." 

"  Bravo  !  "  said  Alice.  "  We  shall  hope  to  keep  you 
long." 

The  Duke  was  quick  for  one  so  young.  "  It  would 
be  a  great  pleasure  to  receive  your  impressions  of 
Hertzegotha  —  yours  and  those  of  Miss  Thurley." 

Alice  smiled.     "You  return  very  soon?" 


182  THURLEY  RUXTON 

The  Duke  glanced  at  Thurley,  as  honestly  as  a  boy. 
"  So  much  depends  upon  —  circumstances  over  which  I 
have  not  entire  control.  May  I  beg,  in  the  meantime, 
the  honor  of  presenting  myself  not  infrequently  here  ?  " 

A  certain  naivete  and  directness  of  the  Duke's  re- 
quest appealed  to  Alice  instantly.  She  too  was  puz- 
zled, not  entirely  certain  of  his  knowledge  or  ignorance 
of  the  facts  concerning  Thurley,  whom  she  had  heard 
him  address  as  "  Princess."  She  did  comprehend  that 
love  at  first  sight,  or  something  closely  allied  thereto, 
had  conquered  his  heart,  if  he  had,  as  she  had  expected 
he  would,  immediately  discerned  that  Thurley  was  not 
his  fiancee.  She  foresaw,  also,  if  this  was  the  case,  a 
safeguard  for  her  little  ruse,  if  not  a  confirmation  of  the 
claim  New  York  had  made  concerning  her  protegee,  and 
that  complications  loomed  ahead  in  a  none  too  quieting 
manner. 

Alice  was  essentially  dogged  and  persistent.  The 
element  whereby  defeat  is  so  often  accepted  had  been 
forgotten  in  her  composition.  She  had  courage  the 
equal  of  Thurley's,  plus  a  certain  deliberate  calmness 
that  Thurley  might  never  acquire.  She  glanced  dis- 
cerningly as  far  ahead  as  uncertain  lights  permitted 
now,  in  the  second  that  elapsed  before  she  answered. 

"  It  gives  me  great  happiness  to  know  you  wish  to 
honor  us  by  returning  to  us  here,"  she  told  the  young 
Duke  gravely.  "  I  am  sure  it  will  be  Miss  Thurley's 
wish,  as  well  as  my  own,  to  extend  the  utmost  of  our 
hospitality  and  confess  the  pleasure  we  shall  derive 
from  every  such  attention  as  this  to-night." 

Thurley  could  have  gasped;  but  she  suppressed  the 
lightest  sound.  It  seemed  to  her  that  Alice  was  indeed 
plunging  into  difficulties  by  adopting  this  generous 


A  ROYAL  SUITOR  183 

course.  Whatever  the  knowledge  of  the  Duke  concern- 
ing herself  and  her  "  royal  "  character,  she  was  quite 
aware  he  was  early  manifesting  symptoms  that  threat- 
ened one  more  reckless  suitor  on  the  scene.  Yet  she 
found  herself  obliged  to  admit  that  no  other  course 
seemed  open,  so  long  as  Alice  adhered  to  the  game  upon 
which  they  had  entered.  They  were  practically  obliged 
to  see  his  Excellency  as  often  as  he  might  choose  to  ap- 
pear — or  cut  him  off  at  once. 

The  Duke  himself  contributed  a  trifle  more  to  the 
strength  of  Alice's  position  —  or  perhaps  to  Thurley's 
predicament.  He  turned  to  the  girl  deliberately. 
"  And  may  I  believe  that  you  also,  Princess,  —  Miss 
Thurley,  —  share  in  this  sentiment  of  welcome?" 

"  Why  —  certainly,"  she  faltered.  "  I  shall  hope  to 
see  you  as  often  as  Alice  —  as  often  as  you  care  —  as 
often  as  it  gives  you  pleasure  to  —  please  us  by 
coming." 

It  was  not  at  all  what  she  had  wished  to  say,  except 
in  its  general  effect.  She  knew  it  was  just  about  what 
Alice  had  expected,  and  saw  that  it  lighted  new  beacons 
of  fire  in  the  eyes  of  the  youthful  Duke. 

Alice,  for  her  part,  aware  that  their  royal  visitor  was 
about  to  depart,  innocently  drifted  at  once  to  the  lonely 
Wenck,  whose  official  solicitude  had  apparently  been 
soothed. 

Karl-Wilhelm  was  encouragingly  prompt  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  her  thoughtfulness.  He  held  out  his  hand 
and  tingled  mightily  at  the  contact  of  Thurley's  rosy 
fingers. 

"  To-night  it  is  auf  wedersehen,"  he  murmured. 
"  When  I  come  again,  Princess,  will  you  welcome  me 
with  'Karl'?" 


184  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  Perhaps  we  had  better  wait,"  said  Thurley  judi- 
cially, "  and  let  the  welcome  come  as  it  may." 

"  If  it  answers  my  heart,  I  shall  be  content,"  he  told 
her  in  a  murmur  that  Alice  could  not  have  heard.  Then 
he  kissed  her  hand  as  he  had  before  and  was  presently 
gone  on  his  way. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

WHAT    WALLS    MAY    SEPARATE 

ON  Thursday  morning,  in  the  sunshine  that  broke 
through  the  mist  and  clouds  of  New  York  Harbor,  fully 
two  hours  before  noon,  all  the  waterfront  of  Gotham 
was  astonished  and  mystified  by  the  sudden  appearance 
of  a  sea-going  yacht  of  extraordinary  swiftness  that 
set  all  the  shipping  tongues  to  wagging. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  dropping  of  her  an- 
chor by  the  trim  white  visitor  from  somewhere  out  be- 
yond, a  rumor  was  started  on  its  way  to  the  press  that 
Emperor  Wilhelm's  private  yacht,  with  some  great 
German  personage  aboard,  perhaps  even  the  Kaiser 
himself,  incog,  had  quietly  slipped  up  abreast  of  the 
New  York  Yacht  Club  moorage,  after  cleaving  the  gray 
Atlantic  in  almost  record  time,  and  was  said  to  have 
come  on  an  errand  of  state  involving  matters  of  most 
profound  importance. 

Rumors  are  amazing.  Whence  they  start,  how  they 
travel,  why  they  alter  as  they  go,  —  these  are  queries 
for  the  probers  of  things  psychological. 

Before  anything  authentic  could  possibly  be  known 
of  the  slender  bit  of  steel  and  power  from  overseas,  the 
tales  that  had  spread  of  her  coming  and  her  purpose  con- 
tained a  germ  of  truth.  The  vessel  was  owned  in  Ger- 
many and  had  frequently  carried  the  Raiser.  The  per- 
sonage aboard  her  this  morning  had  come  in  haste  on 
matters  of  gravest  moment  to  his  state,  and  in  pur- 

185 


186  THURLEY  RUXTON 

suing  the  shadow  of  the  mighty  liner  that  had  brought 
Karl-Wilhelm,  Duke  of  Saxe  Hertze  and  Heimer,  to 
American  shores,  had  closely  approached  the  record. 

The  man  aboard,  however,  was  not  from  Wilhelm's 
imperial  court.  He  came  from  Hertzegotha,  seeking 
the  youthful  Duke  and  the  still  more  youthful  Princess, 
both  truant  from  their  fatherland  and  graying  the  hair 
of  the  elders  left  behind.  He  was  a  small,  iron  visaged 
being,  an  Ambassador  Extraordinary  and  Plenipoten- 
tiary, that  traveler,  none  other  than  Baron  Von  Hoch- 
haus,  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hertzegotha,  Captain  of  the 
Cuirassier  Regiment  von  Seydlitz,  Equerry  to  H.  R.  H. 
Grand  Duke  of  Hesse-Stuttgart,  etc.,  etc.,  grown 
wrinkled  and  white  of  head  in  the  service  of  his  country. 

He  attracted  little  or  no  attention  when  he  landed,  the 
curious  having  prepared  themselves  to  single  out  some 
giant  of  mere  physical  proportions  to  fulfill  the  ex- 
pectations centered  upon  the  important  being  of  the 
rumor.  With  a  courier  to  aid  and  further  his  move- 
ments, the  servitor  in  question  being  a  German  familiar 
with  Manhattan,  he  was  presently  driven  in  a  taxicab 
to  one  of  the  smaller  high  class  hotels  between  23d  and 
4?2d  streets,  where  he  was  sufficiently  fortunate  to  sur- 
prise and  detain  Otto  Wenck,  once  more  a  thoroughly 
worried  individual  who  had  "  lost  "  the  youthful  Duke. 

Threatened  with  apoplectic  astonishment,  thus  to 
encounter  so  great  a  person,  Wenck  was  barely  able  to 
believe  his  eyes  when  the  Baron  came  upon  him.  He 
had  never  been  so  excited  or  congested  with  news  and 
alarm  in  all  his  life. 

"  He  is  gone !  Heaven  must  have  sent  you !  "  he  ex- 
claimed the  moment  he  could  gain  sufficient  breath  to 
credit  his  senses.  "  I  am  beside  myself  with  despair !  " 


WHAT  WALLS  MAY  SEPARATE        187 

The  Baron  eyed  him  for  a  moment  narrowly.  "  Sit 
down,  then !  "  he  commanded  quietly.  "  Permit  your 
despair  and  your  pulse  to  subside.  By  '  he,'  I  presume 
you  refer  to  the  Duke  He  can  scarcely  have  been  here 
more  than  a  day.  He  cannot  have  gone  very  far.  You 
doubtless  mean  he  has  quitted  your  country.  I  shall 
not  therefrom  judge  him  so  far  insane  —  which  has 
been  a  great  temptation.  You  will  kindly  compose 
yourself  sufficiently  to  relate  to  me,  briefly  and 
promptly,  all  that  has  happened  since  you  were  cabled 
to  move  in  the  matter  of  Princess  Thirvinia." 

Wenck  sat  down  as  directed.  "  He  is  not  unhappy 
—  his  Excellency,"  he  declared  at  once.  "  He  altered 
so  soon  as  he  had  seen  her." 

"  Is  this  the  cart  or  the  horse  you  bring  me  first?  " 
inquired  the  Baron  incisively.  "  A  detailed  and  chron- 
ological statement  of  your  actions,  the  results  and  all 
developments,  if  you  please,  and  without  too  great  ex- 
penditure of  time ! " 

With  excitement  not  to  be  repressed,  and  with  repe- 
titions numerous  and  somewhat  irritating  to  the  Baron, 
Wenck  proceeded  to  state  every  minute  occurrence  with 
which  he  had  been  in  any  manner  concerned,  in  the 
matter  of  Princess  Thirvinia,  dwelling  in  great  particu- 
larity on  the  visits  to  Thurley  and  Alice  Van  Kirk,  both 
with  and  without  the  Grand  Duke. 

"  Last  night,"  he  concluded,  "  his  Excellency  was 
amazingly  light  of  heart  and  joyous  with  song.  He  had 
little  to  say,  but  much  to  sing.  He  gave  me  no  intima- 
tion he  should  vanish  from  my  watchful  vision ;  but  this 
morning  he  is  gone  from  his  quarters  and  I  fear  has, 
with  a  purpose  to  go  his  own  ways,  somewhere  en- 
sconced himself,  with  perhaps  an  altered  name." 


188  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

The  Ambassador  Plenipotentiary  was  somewhat 
grimly  mollified.  The  affair,  to  him,  looked  far  more 
promising  than  he  and  his  peers  of  Hertzegotha  had 
supposed  would  be  possible.  Since  the  Duke  and  the 
Princess  had  met  and  exchanged  such  manifestations  of 
friendship,  even  her  declaration  of  intent  to  remain 
away  from  home  was  a  matter  of  minor  importance. 

He  began  at  once  a  circumstantial  examination  of  the 
agent  to  whom  had  been  intrusted  the  conduct  of  af- 
fairs up  to  the  moment  when,  on  the  Duke's  disappear- 
ance on  a  vessel  bound  for  America,  he  himself  had  been 
impressed  to  save  the  gravest  situation  in  all  the  annals 
of  the  court. 

Meantime,  by  one  of  those  strange  juggleries  of 
chance,  straight  through  on  the  opposite  side  of  that 
same  block  of  buildings,  in  an  old  fashioned  residence, 
long  since  abandoned  to  the  transient  needs  of  a  restless 
and  dubious  fragment  of  New  York's  population, 
another  conference  concerning  Princess  Thirvinia  was 
in  progress. 

Three  persons,  one  of  whom  had  just  arrived,  occu- 
pied the  large,  dingy  room,  where  an  ancient  fireplace 
and  a  frescoed  ceiling  attested  the  building's  past 
grandeur.  Two  of  the  trio  were  men.  The  other  was 
that  same  icy  eyed  woman  who  had  stared  at  Thurley 
at  the  Horse  Show.  Her  companions  called  her 
Madame  Zagorsky.  She  was  Russian,  a  nihilist,  so- 
cialist, and  selfist,  of  a  type  born  for  intrigue  and  ad- 
venture. 

One  of  them  was  a  German,  the  other  a  Slav  named 
Pelevin.  The  German  answered  to  the  name  of  Max. 
It  was  he  who  had  followed  Alice  and  Thurley  from  the 
Garden,  and  had  spied  upon  the  "  Princess "  almost 


WHAT  WALLS  MAY  SEPARATE         189 

constantly  since.  He  had  just  returned  from  Lake- 
wood,  where  Edith  Steck  had  gone,  his  place  at  the 
avenue  mansion  having  meantime  been  filled  by  a  man 
for  whom  the  three  were  at  present  waiting. 

Madame  Zagorsky  was  obviously  master  mind  and 
master  energy  of  all  the  combination.  There  were  sev- 
eral other  agents  in  the  group,  all  diligently  engaged 
with  various  details  of  the  business  in  hand. 

"  If  you  have  your  breath,"  the  woman  said  to  Max, 
"  will  you  condescend  to  inform  us  what  you  have 
done?  " 

The  icy  stare  of  her  venomous  eyes  had  frequently 
made  the  German  uneasy,  and  his  gaze  dropped  shiftily 
now  as  he  panted  for  relief  to  his  lungs.  He  had 
walked  from  the  ferry  and  climbed  three  flights  of 
stairs.  "  One  moment,  I  tell  you  all,"  he  panted.  "  I 
have  done  well." 

"  So  say  you,"  said  the  woman.  "  Then  has  this 
Miss  Steck  written  at  last  —  and  have  you  fetched  her 
letter  that  I  may  read  it  here?  " 

Max  nodded.  "  I  have  the  letter,"  and  he  took  it 
from  his  pocket,  to  have  it  promptly  snatched  from  his 
hand. 

"  An  easy  hand  to  forge,"  commented  Madame 
Zagorsky,  tying  the  direction  on  the  envelope  be- 
fore she  tore  the  letter  open,  to  give  it  a  hurried 
perusal. 

"Ah!  she  improves  in  health  already,  does  she? 
So !  "  The  note  was  addressed  to  "  Dear  Lady  Bounti- 
ful "  and  signed  "  Your  happy  Edith  "  only.  "  It  is 
well  we  intercept  this  letter,"  continued  Madame  Zagor- 
sky. "  What  think  you,  Pelevin  ?  Have  you  a  better 
plan  than  a  letter  like  this  to  *  Miss  Thurley,'  inform- 


190  THUItLEY  RUXTON 

ing  her  this  Edith  is  robbed  and  very  ill  once  more,  and 
has  returned  and  must  ask  that  her  benefactress  come 
without  delay  ?  " 

Pelevin  cleared  his  throat.  "  Any  plan  —  so  that 
she  comes.  If  she  has  once  responded  to  this  woman's 
appeal,  she  will  doubtless  respond  again." 

"  This  method  is  wise  and  safe,"  ventured  Max,  who 
had,  as  he  said,  done  well.  "  Let  us  take  all  possible 
precautions ;  for  the  business  is  already  sufficiently 
risky." 

"  It  is  sufficiently  slow,  this  inactivity,  this  mere 
shadowing ! "  exclaimed  the  woman  impatiently. 
"  Dare  anyone  suggest  another  delay  in  moving,  now 
that  we  have  this  letter  for  a  model?  " 

"  Jan  is  not  yet  here,"  said  Max  tentatively.  "  He 
is  long  gone  and  must  have  something  important  to  re- 
port." 

Madame  Zagorsky  snorted  like  a  horse.  "  More 
likely  something  important  to  drink !  One  night  yet  I 
shall  strangle  Jan  with  my  hands  that  have  so  often 
itched  for  the  pleasure !  " 

"  And  yet,"  said  Pelevin,  "  he  is  indispensable  — 
with  his  knowledge  of  Hertzegotha  and  the  court." 

"  And  therefore  yet  lives,"  added  the  madam.  She 
rose  and  paced  the  floor  restlessly,  the  others  meantime 
silent  while  they  waited.  There  was  nothing  further  to 
discuss  as  to  formulated  plans,  so  often  had  every  de- 
tail been  rehearsed.  It  was  merely  a  matter  now  of 
choosing  the  hour  for  action. 

For  perhaps  ten  minutes  the  woman  swung  back  and 
forth  like  a  female  leopard  before  her  iron  bars,  while 
Max  stared  straight  down  at  the  floor  and  Pelevin  made 
fantastic  drawings  on  a  blotting  pad.  At  a  distant 


WHAT  WALLS  MAY  SEPARATE        191 

sound  the  madam  suddenly  halted  and  stood  intently 
listening. 

"  At  last !  "  she  said,  and  a  moment  later,  climbing 
two  steps  at  a  stride,  a  pale-faced,  watery-eyed,  well- 
dressed  Hollander  appeared  where  the  door  was  held 
open  for  his  entrance.  It  was  Jan. 

"  I  am  sober !  "  he  panted  to  the  woman  superior 
triumphantly.  "  I  have  a  great  piece  of  fortune  — 
news !  The  Grand  Duke  is  here !  He  has  already  seen 
the  Princess.  I  have  left  him  for  hardly  a  minute  since, 
and  have  observed  him  this  morning  when  he  departed 
from  Wenck  and  made  for  himself  new  quarters  !  " 

Even  Madame  Zagorsky  was  mute  for  a  moment  with 
astonishment  and  joy.  She  could  scarcely  believe  she 
had  heard  the  man  aright.  She  had  closed  the  door 
and  stood  regarding  him  with  her  penetrative  stare  as 
if  his  panting  was  some  strange  phenomenon. 

"  You  are  sure  of  what  you  say?  "  she  asked  at  last. 
"  The  Grand  Duke  is  here  in  New  York?  " 

"Here!  Who  shall  so  well  know  him  as  myself?" 
said  Jan.  "  I  am  sober.  I  have  had  nothing  to  eat, 
no  drink,  since  seven  o'clock  last  night.  He  is  here !  " 

"  The  smile  of  fortune  on  our  cause  at  last!  "  said  the 
woman  with  fanatical  zeal,  as  she  made  wild  gestures 
with  her  hands.  "  We  shall  now  get  them  both  — 
both !  It  is  worth  all  the  waiting  —  everything ! 
Perhaps  we  must  wait  a  little  longer  now;  but  to  get 
them  both,  ah !  —  a  lifetime  would  be  a  little  wait !  " 
She  turned  on  Jan  almost  savagely.  "  You  left  some- 
one —  who  —  to  watch  the  Princess  ?  " 

"  No  one,"  Jan  confessed,  like  a'  whipped  cur.  "  It 
was  more  important  to  follow  the  Duke.  You  will  say 
so  yourself.  Not  until  half  an  hour  ago  could  I  get 


192  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

Larene  and  set  her  to  shadow  Karl-Wilhelm  while  I  shall 
come.  I  have  done  my  best." 

"  Where  is  he  then,  the  Duke?  " 

Jan  produced  a  dirty  bit  of  paper  and  gave  it  into 
her  hand.  On  it  was  written  the  name  and  street  ad- 
dress of  the  hostelry  to  which  the  Duke  had  gone,  to- 
gether with  the  number  of  his  room  and  the  name  under 
which  he  had  registered. 

"  Max,"  commanded  Madame  Zagorsky,  "  go  at  once 
to  the  post  on  Fifth  avenue.  It  is  early.  You  may 
yet  be  in  time  to  begin  with  the  program  of  the  idle 
rich." 

"  But  the  plans,  the  newer  plans,  now  that  the  Duke 
is  present,"  said  Max.  "  Shall  these  not  require  us 
all?" 

"  They  require  none  but  myself,"  replied  the  woman. 
"  You  shall  smell  of  their  brewing  in  season." 

Max  went  his  way,  and  preparations  for  the  brew 
began  at  the  dingy  old  quarters,  through  the  block  from 
Wenck  and  Baron  von  Hochhaus. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

THE  CAR  OF  FATES 

NEW  YORK  has  a  record  for  sunny  December  after7 
noons ;  but  none  to  excel  the  beauty  of  that  particular 
one,  deserving  to  be  long  remembered  by  many  abroad 
in  the  park. 

Stuyverant's  car  arrived  in  front  of  Alice  Van  Kirk's 
a  little  after  two,  Stuyverant  sitting  at  his  chauffeur's 
side  while  the  man  tooled  the  big  shining  car  to  a 
standstill  at  the  curb. 

"  Meet  me  here  to  take  it  home  at  about  four-thirty," 
Robley  instructed.  "  Let  the  motor  run." 

The  man  alighted  after  his  master,  saluted,  looked 
the  purring  mechanism  over  with  a  critical  eye,  and 
walked  away.  Stuyverant  ran  up  the  steps  of  the 
mansion ;  but  did  not  enter,  as  Thurley  met  him  at  the 
door. 

She  was  furred  from  boots  to  crown  in  the  richest 
Russian  sable,  the  garment  a  masterpiece  of  tailoring 
for  grace  and  ease  of  movement.  It  seemed  to  Stuy- 
verant he  had  never  seen  her  wondrous  brown  eyes  so 
softly  beautiful,  her  brows  so  delicately  arched,  her 
color  so  brilliant  and  changeful.  The  smile  on  her 
curving  lips  was  exquisitely  lovely.  She  seemed  the 
very  embodiment  of  daintiness  and  strength  together,  a 
supple  young  goddess,  chosen  by  beauty  and  magnetic 
energy  to  be  their  royal  expression. 

"  You're  really  going  to  let  me  drive  —  you  meant 
it?"  she  asked  him  delightedly.  "I  was  so  afraid 
you'd  alter  your  mind  after  all !  " 

193 


194.  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

"  Where  you're  concerned  I  haven't  one  to  alter,"  he 
assured  her  smilingly,  conveying  a  truth  in  a  jest. 
"  Haven't  you  noticed  that  before  ?  " 

"  How  could  I  notice  the  functions  of  your  mind  if  it 
doesn't  exist?  "  she  replied  to  him  archly.  "  And  if 
what  you  say  is  true,  it  wouldn't  be  polite  to  observe  i€ 
anyway." 

He  too  smiled.  "  Polite  or  not,  I  trust  you'll  notice 
my  happiness  this  afternoon  and  make  up  your  mind 
it  ought  to  be  cultivated  regularly." 

They  had  come  to  the  car,  and  she  was  stepping  in  to 
take  the  driver's  seat.  "  Is  your  happiness  such  an 
anemic  plant,  or  merely  some  sort  of  frail  exotic  ?  " 

"  Oh,  it  could  stand  its  knocks,"  he  responded  cheer- 
fully. "  In  fact;  it  does  —  constantly.  But  it  thrives 
in  sunshine,  naturally.*' 

She  speeded  up  the  motor  and  adjusted  the  speed 
controlling  lever.  "  In  which,  of  course,  it  is  quite  dis- 
tinct from  any  other  person's  happiness,"  she  answered 
with  another  of  her  smiles.  "  It's  the  only  one  of  its 
kind." 

"  It's  the  only  one  I  have,"  he  said  as  she  slipped  in 
the  clutch  and  the  car  began  to  move.  "  And  you  con- 
trol the  sun." 

"Wouldn't  it  be  horrid  to  be  the  Ice  Trust?"  she 
asked  him,  in  mock  gravity.  "  Think  of  the  blighted 
little  bits  of  happiness  then!  Where  shall  we  go?  " 

"  Let's  follow  the  wand  of  pleasure." 

"  Oh,  I  very  much  prefer  to  follow  the  roads.  Wher- 
ever you  wander  then,  they  lead  you  back  again." 

"  Then  choose  the  longest,  the  one  that  comes  back 
by  the  devious  windings  of  the  proverbial  '  shortest  way 
home.'  I  don't  believe  I  shall  notice  where  we  go. 


THE  CAR  OF  FATES  195 

I'm  sure  I  sha'n't  care,  so  long  as  the  golden  sunshine 
continues." 

They  were  rolling  down  the  avenue  with  others  of 
their  kind. 

"  You  must  be  home  the  minute  the  sun  goes  down?  " 

"  On  the  contrary,  I'd  go  on  like  this  forever." 

"  Oh,  you'd  tire  of  motoring  finally  —  if  motors  be- 
came immortal.  You'd  ache  for  wings,  or  a  lit- 
tle golden  aeroplane  with  the  harp  strapped  on  be- 
hind." 

"  Suppose,"  he  said,  "  you  were  the  final  arbiter,  the 
goddess  in  control,  and  you  knew  I  was  aching  for  any- 
thing, would  you  really  wish  to  be  kind?  What  would 
you  do  for  the  ache?  " 

"  Advise  a  mustard  plaster,"  said  Thurley,  persist- 
ently unwilling  to  be  anything  but  lightly  responsive 
to  his  queries  and  his  hints,  "  and  a  hot  water  bag  if 
you  felt  a  chill  in  your  feet." 

"  Oh,  Lord ! "  he  groaned,  "  this  isn't  an  auto,  it's  a 
hospital!  Don't  you  know  that  doctors  aren't  human 
beings  ?  " 

"  Neither  is  a  final  arbiter,"  she  answered.  "  It 
sounds  more  like  a  brindle  terrier.  I  shouldn't  care  to 
be  one,  please." 

Down  all  the  length  of  the  avenue  as  far  as  the  Plaza 
entrance  to  the  park,  where  the  gilded  statue  of  Sher- 
man, his  horse,  and  the  Goddess  of  Victory  were  glint- 
ing in  the  sun,  she  drove,  pursued  behind  by  one  of  the 
big  green  motor  busses  that  buzzed  like  a  giant  insect. 
They  were  preceded  also  by  carriages  and  cars  in 
rapidly  increasing  numbers. 

"  A  little  of  the  park  to  begin  with,  anyway,"  she 
said,  "  and  then  perhaps  out  in  the  country.  You'll 


196  THURLEY  RUXTON 

have  to  direct  me  as  to  roads  as  soon  as  we  leave  the 
crowd." 

"  The  New  York  crowd  is  hard  to  leave,"  he  told  her 
sagely.  "  They  invade  all  the  country,  and  all  abroad, 
and  have  their  eyes  on  Mars.  But  I  should  say, 
around  the  park,  then  over  to  Riverside  Drive,  and  the 
—  the  world  is  practically  spread  before  us  for  explora- 
tion out  beyond." 

Thurley  swung  into  the  brilliant  procession  that 
flowed  like  a  stream  through  the  highways  of  New 
York's  superb  oasis,  and  a  hundred  necks  were  craned 
as  car  and  carriage  occupants  turned  to  stare  at  the 
girl,  like  a  figure  of  beauty  at  the  wheel. 

"  It  isn't  much  like  our  first  little  trip  together," 
Stuyverant  continued  presently.  "  I  don't  suppose 
we'll  ever  be  able  to  duplicate  the  excitements  and  — 
all  the  rest  —  of  that." 

"  Would  you  like  to  try  it  with  your  second  wrist?  " 
she  inquired.  "  Don't  you  think  you're  sufficiently  in- 
teresting as  you  are?  " 

"  I  shall  soon  have  this  one  out  of  the  hospital,"  he 
answered,  "  when  I  hope  for  the  pleasure  of  doing  my 
share  of  the  work." 

Such  energizing  elixir  was  in  the  air  as  made  the 
speed  and  distance  restrictions  of  the  park  a  species  of 
aggravation.  Eagerly  Thurley  gazed  out  ahead,  her 
faculties  largely  centered  on  the  guidance  of  the  car. 
She  had  neither  time  nor  self  consciousness  to  be  aware 
of  the  scores  of  curious  and  admiring  beings  who  passed 
them  and  forgot  all  else  in  watching  her  animated 
beauty. 

Here  and  there  a  carriage  or  an  auto  glided  by  with 
acquaintances  recently  encountered.  Some  Thurley 
saw  and  acknowledged  with  a  smile,  others  were  wholly 


THE  CAR  OF  FATES  197 

unobserved  in  her  preoccupation  with  driving.  Fiaschi 
was  one  of  those  who  passed,  staring  and  grimacing 
actively,  only  to  be  lost  a  moment  later  without  having 
drawn  so  much  as  a  glance.  He  was  storming  in- 
wardly with  rage  at  Stuyverant,  an  impotent  emotion 
that  heightened  his  own  desire. 

Thurley  began  her  deviations  from  Robley's  pro- 
gram as  soon  as  a  change  was  practicable.  She  guided 
the  car  from  the  western  exit  of  the  park  ai  its  north- 
ern end,  in  sight  of  the  giant  bones  and  skeleton  of  the 
great  Cathedral  of  Saint  John  the  Divine,  drove 
straight  up  past  the  mighty  structure,  then  over  to  the 
river  and  the  drive,  presently  passing  the  tomb  of 
Grant  and  continuing  on  to  the  huge  steel  viaduct  that 
spans  a  great  Harlem  ravine. 

"  What  shall  we  achieve  if  we  keep  this  direction 
long  enough? "  she  finally  asked  of  her  companion. 
"Is  this  the  road  to  Boston?" 

"  Yonkers,"  said  Stuyverant ;  "  Albany  finally,  if  we 
keep  on  straight,  and  Buffalo  afterward,  or  anything 
you  like.  Sleepy  Hollow  is  out  in  this  direction,  after 
Yonkers." 

"  You  couldn't  promise  me  a  sight  of  dear  old  Rip 
Van  Winkle,  out  in  the  Emersonian  glades  ?  " 

"  I  can  show  you  Foe's  cottage  in  the  Bronx,"  he  an- 
swered smilingly.  "  There's  the  picture  of  the  crow  on 
the  gable." 

"  The  raven  !  "  she  declared. 

"  No,  it's  a  crow,"  he  persisted,  "  the  sort  one  doesn't 
hanker  after  at  that.  Shall  I  show  you  the  road  and 
let  you  see?  " 

"Let's  just  ride,"  she  said,  and  some  way  it  glad- 
dened his  heart,  just  the  friendly,  comrade  way  she 
said  it,  smiling  in  his  eyes. 


198  THURLEY  RUXTON 

They  rode  toward  Yonkers,  out  along  the  last  en- 
croachments of  the  monster  city,  with  its  blocks  of 
houses  tramping  down  the  grass,  and  the  trees  and 
even  the  rocks  of  the  once-green  Manhattan  Island,  be- 
neath the  far  part  of  the  subway  railroad  structure, 
here  built  like  the  older  fashioned  elevated  road,  and 
finally  over  the  bridge  that  spans  the  Harlem  River, 
isolating  New  York  from  the  mainland  of  the  long  and 
slender  peninsula;  and  so  ran  on  through  Van  Cort- 
landt  Park,  where  golfers  were  straying  on  the  green. 

They  turned  to  the  right,  at  Stuyverant's  direction, 
after  coming  to  hill-built  Yonkers  town,  and  roved 
through  open  stretches  of  country,  where,  with  grass 
still  green  and  trees  all  stark,  there  was  merely  a 
ghostly  suggestion  of  the  recent  autumnal  beauty. 

Far  over  to  the  eastward  they  encountered  the  old- 
time  Boston  road,  where  the  post  chaise  once  made  its 
lumbering  way  from  the  Dutch  of  New  Amsterdam  to 
the  Pilgrims  of  New  England.  Out  here,  on  the  bor- 
ders of  Pelham  Bay,  there  were  cars  in  unexpected 
numbers,  endlessly  humming  up  and  down  the  splendid 
thoroughfares  in  idle  pursuit  of  pleasure. 

The  sun  was  inclining  westward  when  at  length  they 
turned  to  head  for  the  town  and  home.  Down  through 
the  long  straight  stretch  of  Jerome  Avenue  they  came 
upon  cars  in  all  manner  of  haste  and  color,  some  of 
them  crowded,  others  occupied  by  a  single  being  only, 
and  the  vast  majority,  like  themselves,  bound  home- 
ward to  escape  the  chill  already  suggested  in  the  air. 

Thurley  had  pushed  her  throttle  up  a  notch  and 
advanced  the  spark  sufficiently  to  accelerate  their 
speed  to  a  pace  only  just  within  the  limit  of  the  law. 
Then  she  and  Stuyverant  were  startled  by  a  strange 


THE  CAR  OF  FATES  199 

piercing  cry  of  warning  from  the  rear,  just  as  their 
car  shot  in  upon  a  mile  or  more  of  narrowed  road, 
where  excavations  and  upthrown  earth  occupied  half 
of  the  highway's  ordinary  width. 

Stuyverant  turned  —  and  Thurley  saw  the  blanch- 
ing of  his  face,  even  before  she  could  take  the  part  of 
a  second  necessary  to  cast  one  look  behind. 

A  rare  and  horrifying  thing  had  happened.  A  car 
built  for  racing,  with  three  helpless  children  sitting  in 
the  rear,  was  plunging  down  the  crowded  road  with  all 
the  madness  of  a  runaway  locomotive  —  its  driver  sud- 
denly stricken  with  death  at  the  wheel ! 

One  of  his  hands  still  lingered  on  the  throttle  and 
spark,  which  a  jolt,  as  he  died,  had  thrown  forward. 
The  other  hand  had  fallen  at  his  side.  He  sat  in  apo- 
plectic rigidity,  his  glassy  eyes  staring  unseeingly  be- 
fore him,  his  attitude  that  of  some  grim  Nemesis,  se- 
vere as  stone,  pursuing  his  living  fellow  beings  as  if 
for  company  on  the  long,  dark  avenue  into  the  great 
Unknown.  He  was  going  like  the  wind. 

Nearly  a  dozen  cars  had  shot,  veered,  and  skidded 
from  his  path  before  the  warning  cry  had  come  so  far 
as  Thurley's  ears.  The  children  that  rode  with  the 
grim  chauffeur  were  screaming  in  agonized  horror. 
Women's  shrill  trebles  pierced  the  air,  above  the  hoarser 
shouting  of  men. 

By  a  series  of  things  mysterious  and  npt  to  be  ex- 
pected, the  death  driven  car  did  not  swerve  madly  from 
the  beaten  track  and  crash  into  trees  at  the  side  of  the 
road,  or  into  the  equally  fatal  and  thickly  planted  iron 
trolley  posts,  lined  down  through  the  center  of  the  high- 
way. It  came  on,  rocking  and  swaying  drunkenly,  like 
a  thing  of  life,  diabolically  intent  upon  destruction. 


200  THURLEY  RUXTON 

The  horror  of  the  spectators,  who  felt,  rather  than 
saw,  that  the  driver  was  a  corpse,  had  been  centered  on 
fear  for  the  children,  thrown  about  in  the  tonneau  in 
sickening  violence.  A  few  had  feared  for  themselves, 
before  they  could  dart  from  the  monster's  path  and  feel 
it  rocket  by. 

Now,  of  a  sudden,  the  alarm  increased.  Not  only 
were  the  children  in  danger  of  instant  death,  through 
collision  with  any  of  the  numerous  obstacles  along  the 
path,  but  everyone  chasing  in  wild  pursuit  became 
aware  of  the  car  ahead  —  the  car  with  Thurley  and 
Stuyverant,  hedged  in  the  narrower,  earth  banked  road 
and  unable  to  dodge  to  the  side. 

"  We're  in  for  it  now ! "  said  Robley  quietly. 
"  You'll  have  to  race  to  escape  it." 

Thurley  glanced  behind  again,  and  then  at  the  road 
ahead. 

"  We  can't  pick  up  the  speed,"  she  said,  calmly 
enough,  making  every  possible  move  to  give  her  more 
power.  "  And  some  trolley  cars  are  blocking  ahead, 
and  a  danger  flag  or  something  in  the  way." 

"Good  God!  Those  children!"  muttered  Stuy- 
verant. "  It's  they  or  us  —  or  maybe  both,  in  spite 
of  all  we  can  do ! " 

He  expected  that  he  and  Thurley  would  be  saved, 
not  by  their  possible  speed  ahead,  but  rather  by  some 
frightful  plunge  the  comet  behind  must  presently 
make,  with  no  sentient  control  of  the  wheel.  But,  still 
by  that  singular  perversity  of  inanimate  things,  the 
runaway  mechanism  clung  to  the  road  as  if  some  un- 
seen, ghostly  hand  was  laid  to  guide  it  to  a  deadly 
course  and  reap  a  greater  harvest. 

"  Gaining ! "    Stuyverant    cried    in    helpless    horror, 


am  yoiuy  to  let  it  strike,"  sfa  cried. 

—Page  201 


THE  CAR  OF  FATES  201 

while  Thurley,  bending  every  energy  to  urge  the  car 
faster  and  faster,  abruptly  saw  a  mass  of  rock  and  earth 
debris  piled  from  a  broken  water  main  -across  her  only 
course.  They  shot  past  the  first  of  the  trolley  cars, 
stalled  on  their  tracks,  and  were  in  a  cul  de  sac. 

Passengers,  conductor,  and  motorman  shrieked  as 
they  saw  the  impending  doom,  where  the  dead  man's 
chariot  held  lurchingly,  almost  malignantly  to  the  road 
and  crept  upon  the  rear  of  Robley's  car. 

Stuyverant  was  kneeling  in  his  seat,  helplessly 
transfixed  by  the  awful  stare  of  the  dead  man's  face, 
now  a  few  rods  only  away.  He  had  never  seen  any- 
thing more  frightful,  more  repellent,  in  his  life.  A  fear- 
ful intensity  had  set  its  mark  on  the  mask  of  death,  till 
the  face  bore  a  look  of  murderous  hate  which  chilled 
the  blood  in  Robley's  veins. 

Thurley  stood  up,  or  half  stood  up,  by  the  wheel. 
"  I  am  going  to  let  it  strike !  "  she  cried.  "  It's  the 
only  way !  " 

She  meant  the  racer  was  bound  to  overtake  tjiem 
despite  her  utmost  efforts.  Disaster  blocked  the  road 
ahead.  The  machine  behind  had  gone  amuck  —  and 
Death  was  at  the  helm. 

She  dared  not  slack  to  receive  the  blow.  Her  only 
hope  was  to  hold  her  speed  and  so  accept  the  impact 
with  as  small  a  jar  as  such  momentum  would  allow. 

She  was  glancing  alternately  out  ahead  to  steer,  and 
behind  to  receive  the  plunging  comet  of  steel  and 
force  so  madly  hurtling  upon  them,  her  face  as  gray 
as  stone. 

Inch  by  inch  the  fire  belching  engine  of  doom  was 
creeping  up.  in  their  dust.  It  struck  a  lump  of  some- 
thing in  the  road,  lurching  horribly  over,  struck  an- 


202  THURLEY  RUXTON 

other  that  instantly  righted  the  forward  wheels,  and 
leaped  onward  as  if  angered  by  delay. 

Forward,  backward,  Thurley's  glance  was  flung,  and 
then,  with  a  sudden  twisting  of  the  wheel,  she  swerved 
aside  for  the  breadth  of  a  hand  —  and  the  monster  be- 
hind rammed  viciously  up  against  her  car,  its  head- 
lamps shattered  with  a  crash  of  glass  and  metal,  its 
two  front  wheels,  as  it  were,  closely  sandwiched  with 
the  rear  ones  of  the  Stuyverant  machine,  while  its  ra- 
diator crumpled  on  the  springs  and  tonneau  of  the  fly- 
ing obstacle  encountered. 

There  was  one  huge  jolt  which  sat  Thurley  down, 
but  her  hands  were  still  glued  to  the  wheel.  She 
kicked  off  her  clutch  and  lightly  applied  her  brake. 
Her  own  motor,  disconnected  from  the  driving  gear, 
raced  in  the  wildest  uproar. 

She  held  to  the  road,  thrusting  harder  on  the  brake, 
till  presently,  driven  only  by  the  madly  ramming  ma- 
chine behind,  she  was  halting  the  interlocked  cars. 
The  weight  of  her  own  big  tourer  was  slowing  the  racer 
at  the  rear  to  impotent  snarling  and  inertia,  when 
Stuyverant  clambered  heedlessly  over  tonneau  and  all, 
leaped  to  the  car  where  the  dead  man  sat,  and  stilled 
the  laboring  motor. 

Ahead  they  had  barely  another  hundred  yards  of 
road  sufficiently  open  for  the  race. 

Thurley  sank  limberly  into  her  seat,  as  weak  and 
white  as  a  towel.  Yet  she  faintly  smiled  as  Stuyverant 
cast  her  a  look  from  his  place  where  the  children  were 
safe. 

She  had  performed  a  masterpiece  of  receiving  and 
cushioning  a  collision  which  something  akin  to  a 
miracle  had  cheated  of  its  prey! 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

BARON   HOCHHATTS 

How  long  they  had  been  delayed  by  the  avoided  col- 
lision, the  ensuing  excitement,  and  the  forcing  apart 
of  the  cars,  Thurley  could  never  have  told.  It  seemed 
to  her  another  afternoon,  a  long  way  removed  from 
the  earlier  hours,  when  at  length  she  and  Robley  were 
once  more  gliding  down  the  road  with  the  lowered  sun 
redly  blazing  upon  them. 

She  was  driving  automatically,  reactionary  steadi- 
ness having  succeeded  her  nerve  collapse.  She  was 
still  a  trifle  pale;  but  had  pulled  herself  together  with 
amazing  promptness,  after  the  ordeal  was  over,  and 
had  stoutly  refused  the  services  of  a  dozen  chauffeurs 
that.  Stuyverant  was  ready  to  engage. 

They  had  not  resumed  their  former  gayety  of  con- 
versation. Indeed,  they  had  scarcely  spoken  at  all  for 
the  fifteen  minutes  elapsed  since  once  more  getting  un- 
der way.  They  came  to  the  great  iron  drawbridge 
over  another  winding  of  the  Harlem  River,  where  rail- 
road structures,  shipping,  trolley  confusion,  and  a 
mighty  exemplification  of  the  city's  activities  abruptly 
blotted  out  all  but  memory  of  the  quiet  glades  behind. 

"  We  seem  fated  for  excitements,"  said  Stuyverant 
at  last,  "  especially  with  this  car.  I  wonder  what  the 
third  will  be  —  and  when  ?  " 

Thurley  glanced  at  him  with  one  of  her  fainter 
smiles.  "  You  believe  in  threes  —  you're  supersti- 
tious ?  " 

203 


204  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

"  I  don't  know,  I'm  sure.  Everyone  has  a  few  su- 
perstitions, I  presume.  There  does  seem  to  be  a  sort  of 
fatality  in  trios.  We  may  not  get  our  third  experience, 
of  course ;  but  then  —  " 

"Why  ride  in  this  old  car  any  more?  "  Thurley  in- 
terrupted, half  in  earnest.  "  I  don't  believe  I  shall." 

"  If  it's  fated,  you  will,  you  can't  escape  it,"  he  as- 
sured her,  laughingly,  yet  a  little  serious  nevertheless. 
"  We  are  mere  helpless  puppets  of  our  destiny,  and 
it  works  both  ways.  If  we  can't  escape  our  cataracts 
of  disaster,  neither  can  we  sidestep  our  zephyrs  of 

joy." 

Thurley  looked  grave.  "  I  think  I  prefer  cataracts 
of  joy  and  zephyrs  of  disaster." 

"  May  they  come  that  way !  "  he  said  devoutly.  "  I 
would  order  them  so  if  I  could." 

"  It  looked  like  a  whirlwind  of  death  awhile  ago," 
she  said  after  a  moment  of  silence.  "  Please,  if  you 
must  have  a  third  of  our  experiences,  begin  to  tame  it 
down  right  away." 

There  was  no  particular  pleasure  in  threading  the 
up  town  streets  of  Gotham,  as  Thurley  presently  dis- 
covered. By  Stuyverant's  directions  she  wound  across 
and  down  strange  thoroughfares  with  all  her  ordinary 
skill,  however,  till  at  length  they  rolled  through  Lenox 
Avenue,  and  so  once  more  to  Central  Park  for  the  final 
charm  of  their  journey. 

The  last  of  the  orange  sunshine  was  casting  a  ruddy 
glow  of  day-end  splendor  on  the  trees  and  lawns  of  the 
still  populous  roadways,  as  they  joined  the  homeward 
roving  procession  of  motors  and  open  carriages. 

Thurley,  intent  as  before  on  the  guidance  and  con- 
trol of  the  car,  where  a  moment's  reckless  driving  might 


BARON  HOCHHAUS  205 

precipitate  some  huge  disaster,  had  barely  taken  time 
to  enjoy  a  glance  at  the  sun's  soft  glory  and  the  cheer- 
ing ruby  background  for  the  trees.  She  did  not  note 
the  rapid  approach  of  a  carriage  wherein  two  men  were 
riding  and  inspecting  all  the  crowds. 

Stuyverant  beheld  the  conveyance,  or  rather  felt  his 
glance  attracted  to  one  of  the  men  on  its  cushions. 
The  man  was  stiff  in  his  poise  and  leaning  angularly 
forward  in  his  seat,  as  he  stared  with  concentrated  in- 
tensity at  the  girl  driving  the  car. 

It  was  Baron  von  Hochhaus,  Ambassador  Extraor- 
dinary from  Hertzegotha,  and  Wenck  was  at  his  side. 
In  a  vain,  rapid  search  for  the  missing  Grand  Duke 
they  had  finally  adopted  this  expedient,  trusting  that 
they  might,  perchance,  discover  him  riding  in  the  park. 

The  little  man,  more  iron  visaged  than  before,  with 
this  vision  of  Thurley  to  set  the  lines  of  his  counte- 
nance, saw  nothing  of  Stuyverant,  or  at  most  had  given 
him  a  glance.  But  Robley  returned  his  intensified 
stare,  instantly  puzzled  to  know  where  it  was  he  had 
seen  this  face  before. 

The  exchange  of  scrutinies  lasted  but  a  moment, 
when  the  auto  and  the  carriage,  shuffled  into  the  mov- 
ing pack  of  life,  and  parted  by  the  ceaseless  maneuvers 
of  the  traffic  and  the  Fates,  continued  each  its  own 
way.  The  Baron  turned  galvanically,  as  one  on  a 
pivot,  in  his  seat,  and  Stuyverant  craned  his  neck  to 
the  limit  —  and  the  incident  was  closed. 

"Did  you  see  him  —  see  that  man?"  said  Robley, 
wheeling  at  once  to  the  girl.  "  He  stared  at  you  as  if 
he  had  seen  a  spirit." 

"  What  man?  "  said  Thurley.  "  I  didn't  notice  any- 
one at  all."  ' 


206  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  Who  in  the  deuce  —  I've  seen  him  before ;  but 
where?  "  continued  Stuyverant.  "  He's  someone  in 
particular  —  I  wish  I  could  think  —  I  know  I  know 
him  well ;  but  where  —  or  how  —  " 

"  New  York  has  a  large  staring  population,"  Thur- 
ley  ventured.  "  Perhaps  he's  just  the  star  starer,  or 
star  gazer  if  you  prefer,  of  the  town." 

Stuyverant  smiled;  but  his  thoughts  were  far  afield. 
"  It  always  worries  me  to  forget  a  thing  I  ought  to  re- 
member. It  seems  to  me  he  did  me  a  favor  sometime. 
It  couldn't  have  been  at  Newport,  or  here  in  New 
York  —  Hum !  doesn't  a  thing  like  that  get  on  a  fel- 
low's mind  and  stick  like  a  ghost?  " 

Thurley  saw  no  necessity  of  taking  the  matter  so 
seriously.  "  Are  ghosts  really  known  to  be  sticky  ?  " 

"Ah!  I  remember.  Of  course!"  He  suddenly 
turned  to  the  girl,  a  new  sort  of  gravity  depicted  on  his 
face.  "If  you  had  only  seen  him!"  he  added.  "No 
wonder  he  stared  —  I  mean  —  he  was  Baron  von  Hoch- 
haus  of  Hertzegotha,  one  of  the  biggest  men  in  the 
Kingdom."  , 

For  a  moment  Thurley  met  his  gaze  blankly,  till  of 
a  sudden  the  full  significance  of  this  intelligence,  in  the 
light  of  what  Robley  believed  of  herself,  burst  in  upon 
her  swiftly  moving  thoughts.  She  colored  instantly, 
visions  of  the  Grand  Duke  Karl  and  a  hundred  kindred 
incidents  and  lucubrations  crowding  thickly  upon  her. 
"  The  Baron  —  "  she  started. 

Stuyverant,  noting  her  confusion,  was  instantly 
contrite.  "  I  beg  your  pardon  —  I  hardly  stopped 
to  think.  The  abruptness  of  the  meeting — my  mem- 
ory —  I  hope  I  have  not  distressed  you  uninten- 
tionally." 

"  It  is  not  worth  mentioning,"  Thurley  murmured, 


BARON  HOCHHAUS  207 

still  somewhat  nonplussed,  nevertheless,  and  wondering 
what,  if  anything,  the  visit  of  another  dignitary  from 
Hertzegotha  might  imply,  and  how  much  his  presence 
in  Gotham  might  affect  herself  and  Alice.  "  You  met 
him  on  the  Continent?  You  have  been  to  Hertze- 
gotha?" 

"  At  Berlin.  I  have  never  been  to  your  —  to  his 
country ;  but  hope  —  He  did  me  a  very  great  service 
two  years  ago,  and  was  good  enough  to  say  I  had  done 
him  a  greater.  We  became  very  friendly.  I  liked  him 
through  and  through."  k 

Thurley  was  silent  for  a  moment.  When  she  spoke 
her  companion  was  aware  that  the  subject  was  dis- 
missed. "  I  believe  I  shall  not  drive  all  the  way  down 
through  the  park,"  she  said.  "  I  begin  to  feel  a  little 
recurrence  of  —  something  from  what  we  went 
through." 

Stuyverant  having  hoped  all  afternoon  for  one  of  the 
little  familiar  exchanges  of  a  word  or  a  glance  between 
herself  and  him,  something  that  would  hark  back  to 
their  initial  meeting,  perhaps,  or  to  some  of  the  few 
sweet  occasions  since,  was  loath  to  realize  that  their 
day  was  at  an  end,  with  nothing  said  between  them  to 
arouse  his  oscillating  hopes.  ' 

"  It's  a  pity  the  sun  must  sink,  a  day  like  this,"  he 
said.  "  I  wish  it  might  reverse  its  motion  and  begin 
things  all  over  again." 

"  Oh,  no !  "  she  expostulated  warmly.  "  It  has  been 
far  too  strenuous  for  me!  I'd  rather  start  a  new  one, 
please,  and  leave  a  few  things  out !  " 

"  But  not  our  ride  —  and  sense  of  comradeship  ?  " 

She  looked  at  him  quietly,  softly,  despite  her  sense 
of  judgment.  "It  has  been  like  that,  hasn't  it?  I 
mean  —  Shall  I  drive  you  home  again  ?  " 


208  THURLEY  RUXTON 

It  was  just  a  flash  of  that  wondrous  afternoon,  when 
joy  had  eased  his  pain.  His  heart  bounded  lightly  at 
her  look  and  smile  and  the  shadowy  presence  of  her 
softer  mood,  before  it  was  merged  in  something  else, 
elusive  and  evanescent.  "  My  man  will  drive  me  home," 
he  said.  "  Would  you  wish  to  have  him  take  you  away 
again  —  and  leave  you  somewhere  in  the  park?  " 

"  I  enjoyed  that  visit  to  the  park,"  she  answered, 
and  speeding  up  the  car  she  drove  it  down  the  avenue, 
to  which  they  had  emerged,  and  was  presently  halting 
by  the  curb  before  the  Van  Kirk  abode. 

He  assisted  her  out  —  and  thrilled  at  the  clasp  of 
her  little  hand  for  a  moment  intrusted  to  his  own. 
For  a  second  he  held  her  gaze,  fe 

"  Shall  I  see  you  again,  Miss  Thurley  —  soon  ?  " 

She  arched  her  brows  in  her  quaintly  piquant  way. 
"  I  hardly  expect  to  vanish,  or  to  become  invisible. 
Good-by  until  we  meet  again.  I've  enjoyed  it  — - 
nearly  all." 

She  ran  up  the  steps  and  waved  him  adieu,  and  her 
smile  made  his  heart  rejoice,  i 

Then  presently  he  was  gone,  with  his  waiting  chauf- 
feur, and  Thurley,  encountering  Alice  on  the  stairs, 
paused  halfway  up,  as  if  the  weight  of  her  news  could 
be  carried  no  farther  that  day. 

"  More  startling  things  for  you  to  hear,"  she  said. 
"  Who  do  you  think  we  just  passed  in  the  park?  " 

"  I  know,"  said  Alice,  instantly  mimicking  soldierly 
rigidity,  "  Baron  von  Hochhaus  —  all  sorts  of  things 
—  from  Hertzegotha.  Am  I  right  ?  " 

"Good  gracious!"  said  Thurley,  once  more  a  trifle 
pale  from  overtaxations  of  the  hour.  "  But  how  —  ' 

"  He  has  already  been  here  this  afternoon.     He  is 


BARON  HOCHHAUS  209 

coming  again  at  eight  o'clock  and  has  asked  to  see  you 
alone."  / 

Thurley  sat  down  on  the  stairs.  "  Aren't  they  get- 
ting thick? "  she  said,  faintly  smiling  up  at  Alice. 
"  But  what's  the  use  of  worrying?  Mr.  Stuyverant 
and  I  were  nearly  killed  by  a  runaway  automobile." 

It  was  Alice's  turn  to  feel  a  wilting  of  the  heart. 
She  too  sat  down  on  the  stairs.  "  Thurley !  You're 
pale,  child.  Tell  me  all  about  it." 

"  It  didn't  last  long  —  thank  the  stars  !  "  imparted 
Thurley,  and,  reducing  the  story  to  the  minimum  of 
facts  and  horrors,  she  related  what  had  occurred.  "  It 
happened  to  end  all  right,"  she  continued  presently; 
"  but  it  made  me  a  little  weak.  The  other  car  was 
damaged  pretty  badly;  but  we  were  barely  scratched. 
Of  course  there  were  plenty  of  people  to  take  the  chil- 
dren home  —  and  the  awful  dead  —  thing  —  away." 

"  Made  you  a  little  weak !  "  repeated  Alice.  "  Good 
Heavens!  Robley  couldn't  have  driven  you  home. 
Who  did?"  ' 

"  Oh,  there  was  no  good  reason  for  hiring  a  man," 
said  Thurley,  simply.  "  I  was  soon  all  right  again." 

"  You  drove  the  car —  after  that?  " 

"  Why,  of  course."  i 

Alice  swallowed  hard  at  her  emotions.  "  I  think  you 
are  safe  enough  to  meet  the  Baron  alone."  But  she 
put  out  her  arms,  slid  down  a  step,  and  strained  Thur- 
ley tightly  against  her  bosom.  "  You  frighten  me, 
dear,"  she  added  maternally.  "  I  someway  feel  I'd 
rather  you  wouldn't  ride  with  Robley  again.  There's 
a  hoodoo  on  his  car." 

Thurley  laughed,  in  sheer  relief  from  overstrain  of 
strength  and  nerves.  "  Robley  said  something  like 


210  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

that  himself ;  but  I  almost  love  that  car.  He  said  we'd 
have  to  look  out  for  the  third  time  and  its  charm." 

"  Dear  girl,"  Alice  added  in  her  tender  mood.  "  I 
have  launched  you  in  violent  waters,  apparently." 

"  Mostly  Florida  waters,"  Thurley  laughed.  "  I'm 
the  luckiest  girl  in  the  world  —  after  all." 

Alice  kissed  her,  rose,  assisted  Thurley  to  her  feet, 
and  with  one  arm  snugly  about  the  slender  waist  went 
with  her  up  the  stairs.  > 


CHAPTER  XXX 

A    PLENIPOTENTIARY    BEGS 

FOR  the  third  time  Thurley  faced  a  species  of  dread 
behind  the  reception  room  door.  The  Baron  was  there, 
alone. 

"  He's  as  little  as  a  Christmas  tree  candle,"  Alice 
assured  her,  smoothing  the  girl's  wondrous  golden  hair 
by  way  of  allaying  her  nervous  apprehensions.  "  You 
needn't  be  afraid  of  handling  him  just  as  you  wish. 
You  could  blow  him  out  with  a  whiff." 

"  If  you  could  only  help  me  a  little,"  Thurley  said, 
her  smile  rather  faint  and  forced.  "  You  would  know 
in  a  moment  whether  I'd  better  tell  him  or  not  that  I'm 
sorry  I  —  just  look  so  like  the  Princess." 

Alice  patted  her  affectionately  on  the  cheek.  "  If 
a  girl  who  did  what  you  did  to-day  cannot  trust  to  the 
guidance  of  her  instincts  and  judgment,  she  ought  to 
be  abandoned  to  her  fate.  That's  all.  You'll  know 
what  to  say  and  do.  And,  whatever  you  decide,  be 
sure,  my  dear,  I'll  accept  it  and  be  content.  Now  go 
along.  I'll  finish  reading  of  your  heroic  conduct  in 
The  Evening  Star:9 

"  It  isn't  half  true,  not  half  of  all  that  stuff! "  said 
Thurley,  reddening  guiltily  at  thought  of  the  lurid  ac- 
count already  in  the  New  York  press  concerning  the 
collision  on  the  road.  "  I  don't  see  where  they  ever 
got  so  much." 

"  Go  along,"  said  Alice,  "  and  remember,  this  little 

211 


THURLEY  RUXTON 

clothespin  of  a  Baron  is  not  a  sixty  horsepower  auto- 
mobile." 

One  of  the  servants  opened  the  door  to  the  room 
where  the  Baron  was  in  waiting.  Thurley  entered  in 
girlish  trepidation,  instantly  convinced  that  the  Baron 
was  eight  feet  tall  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  horsepower 
at  the  least. 

The  man  was  little  only  in  his  stature.  His  genuine 
size  could  not  have  been  concealed  or  calculated.  He 
was  standing  in  the  center  of  the  room  when  Thurley 
entered,'  his  hands  behind  his  back.  He  had  halted 
from  pacing  up  and  down  at  the  slight  sound  at  the 
door.  He  came  half  the  distance  forward,  regarding 
Thurley  piercingly,  as  she,  half  dazed  and  wholly  fas- 
cinated by  his  personality,  —  filling  all  the  room,  — 
gazed  fixedly  upon  him  while  advancing. 

"Miss  Thurley,  I  believe?  "  he  said  in  German,  the 
iron  of  his  face  relaxing  in  a  mobile  way  as  he  dis- 
cerned and  comprehended  her  timidity  of  spirit.  "  May 
I  hope  I  am  welcome  in  your  home?  " 

"  Oh,  very  welcome,"  Thurley  said  impulsively, 
transformed  at  once  to  her  frank  and  easy  self  by  some- 
thing cordial  in  his  manner,  and  she  held  forth  her  hand 
in  token  of  sincerity. 

With  an  older,  more  finished  grace  than  that  of  the 
Duke  he  took  it  and  raised  it  to  his  lips.  "  I  honor 
myself  in  the  privilege  of  coming,"  he  assured  her, 
looking  her  once  more  squarely  in  the  eyes.  "  You 
were  a  little  prepared  for  my  visit  ?  " 

"  I  have  been  prepared  for  almost  anything  recently," 
Thurley  blurted  honestly.  "  I  mean  —  of  course  Mrs. 
Van  Kirk  informed  me  when  I  returned  this  afternoon." 

"So.     Will  you  not  be  more  comfortable  seated?" 


A  PLENIPOTENTIARY  BEGS  213 

Thurley  inclined  her  head.  "  And  you  will  also  be 
comfortable?  " 

He  drew  up  a  chair  as  she  sank  on  a  slender  bit  of 
Chippendale,  and  then  sat  only  on  its  edge,  with  a  cer- 
tain military  alertness,  as  if  expectant  of  the  bugle's 
call  and  a  hastening  into  action.  "  You  are  perhaps 
a  little  aware  of  my  mission  here  in  America,"  he  said, 
with  no  further  preliminaries  by  way  of  introducing 
his  subject.  "  You  know  I  have  come  as  an  ex- 
traordinary representative  of  the  court  at  Hertze- 
gotha?" 

"  Yes,"  answered  Thurley  a  little  faintly.  "  I  knew 
—  something  of  your  dignity  —  your  mission  —  of 
course.  Mrs.  Van  Kirk  informed  me." 

"  You  know  that  the  Kingdom  of  Hertzegotha  is 
very  much  distressed,  almost  disrupted,  by  the  unprec- 
edented disappearance  and  absence  from  the  court  of 
Princess  Thirvinia  and  Grand  Duke  Karl-Wilhelm  ?  " 

Thurley  wondered  whither  his  line  of  queries  might 
be  trending,  but  she  saw  no  course  but  to  answer 
straightforwardly.  There  was  no  sign  as  yet  to  guide 
her  along  a  special  path.  "  I  could  scarcely  be  in  ig- 
norance of  what  you  have  stated  —  of  some  of  it,  I 
mean." 

"  But  you  may  not  know  the  gravity,  the  acute 
anxiety,  of  the  situation,"  he  told  her  quietly.  "  I 
wish  in  particular  to  impress  upon  you  the  fact  that 
Hertzegotha  is  appalled,  is  politically  stricken  to  its 
uttermost  foundation,  by  this  calamity;  that  disaster 
stares  her  in  the  face,  absorption,  disintegration,  I 
might  say  degradation  and  ruin,  if  her  Princess  and 
the  Duke  are  not  restored  to  their  Kingdom.  I  wish 
to  arouse  your  profoundest  sympathy  with  these  facts, 


THURLEY  RUXTON 

and  to  play  upon  every  noble  attribute  of  your  nature 
thereby." 

He  spoke  with  a  feeling  even  deeper  than  that  be- 
trayed by  Wenck  in  this  very  room,  as  the  former  rep- 
presentative  pleaded  with  her  to  return  to  Hertzegotha. 
Wenck  had  obviously  believed  herself  to  be  the  Princess. 
It  did  not  seem  credible  for  half  a  moment  that  Baron 
von  Hochhaus  could  be  similarly  deluded.  And  yet  she 
could  not,  from  his  impassioned  speech,  extract  the 
slightest  clue  to  his  mind. 

She  was  much  affected.  Her  sympathies  were  thor- 
oughly aroused.  She  hardly  knew  what  she  must  an- 
swer. She  was  almost  on  the  point  of  revealing,  then 
and  there,  her  entirely  American  identity  and  helpless- 
ness in  Hertzegotha's  situation ! 

"  You  —  you  certainly  do  arouse  —  you  make  me 
wish  to  help  you  all  I  can,"  she  said.  "  I  only  wish  —  " 

"  You  can  help  me  greatly  —  here  —  to-night !  " 
he  interrupted  eagerly,  the  predicament  of  his  country 
having  wrought  a  miracle  of  transformation  in  the  man 
to  make  him  thoroughly  human.  "  I  was  certain  of 
the  goodness  of  your  heart ! " 

Thurley  flushed.  "  Thank  you ;  but  I'm  afraid  you 
may  not  —  " 

"  First  let  me  ask  you  —  you  have  seen  the  Duke, 
here  last  night  ?  " 

"  Yes,  Mrs.  Van  Kirk  and  myself." 

"  Could  you  possibly  tell  me  what  he  did,  how  he 
acted  when  he  saw  you,  what  he  said  ?  " 

"  Why  —  he  acted  like  anybody  else." 

"  He  was  pleased,  surprised?  " 

Thurley's  color  mounted  readily  to  her  throat  and 
cheeks.  "  He  said  he  was  pleased  —  I  think.  He 


A  PLENIPOTENTIARY  BEGS  215 

seemed  to  be  glad  —  I  mean  —  it  is  very  hard  for  any 
young  woman  to  claim  —  to  boast  —  to  make  a  state- 
ment about  anything  like  that." 

"  Naturally,"  agreed  the  Baron ;  "  but  he  kissed 
your  hand,  he  kept  his  eyes  upon  you,  he  enacted  the 
role  —  pardon  the  query  —  of  the  accepted  fiance?" 

Thurley's   color  became   fairly  scarlet.     "  Why  —  I 

—  I  hardly  know  what  anyone  else  might  think.     His 
eyes  were  very  bright.     I  couldn't  help  noticing  that." 

"  They  were  upon  you  rather  constantly?  " 

She  nodded.     "  But  he  was  here  a  short  time  only." 

"  Yet  he  was  not  sad?  " 

"  He  said  he  was  not  —  in  the  least." 

"Ah,  perhaps  he  said  he  was  happy?"  The 
Baron's  anxiety  in  the  inquisition  increased. 

"  Most  any  man  feels  obliged  to  say  as  much  as 
that,"  was  Thurley's  nai've  reply. 

"  Could  you  possibly  repeat  exactly  what  he  said  in 
that  regard?  " 

"  Why  —  he  really  made  his  remark  to  Mrs.  Van 
Kirk.  He  told  her  that  when  he  arrived  at  noon  he 
hated  New  York  and  that  night  he  loved  all  America." 

"  Ah !  "  The  Baron  slid  back  in  his  chair,  his  look 
of  anxiety  growing  more  pronounced.  "  I  had  a  fear 

—  I  had  a  fear  of  this." 

Thurley  was  intensely  sympathetic.  "  You  fear  he 
will  not  return?  " 

"  Tell  me,"  he  answered,  his  face  slightly  twitching 
as  he  spoke,  "  did  he  express  the  slightest  desire  that 
you  —  go  with  him  to  Hertzegotha  ?  " 

Thurley  was  certain  the  game,  begun  in  innocence, 
was  going  much  too  far.  She  felt  that  to  meddle  in  af- 
fairs of  state,  where  a  Kingdom's  agony  was  vividly  re- 


216  THUBJLEY  RUXTON 

vealed,  was  not  to  be  warranted  another  moment  for 
anything  she  and  Alice  might  desire. 

"  The  Duke  suggested  something  like  —  he  seemed 
to  think,"  she  faltered,  observing  distress  more  and 
more  plainly  inscribed  on  the  Baron's  lineaments. 
"  Oh,  I  think  I  ought  to  tell  you,  Baron  von  Hochhaus 
that  —  " 

A  startlingly  loud  and  imperious  knock  on  the  door 
interrupted  her  speech  and  startled  Thurley  to  her  feet. 
The  Baron  too  had  risen  instantly,  his  face  once  more 
an  iron  mask  as  he  faced  about  to  the  door,  which  had' 
opened  from  without. 

Wenck  shot  in  with  a  military  galvanism,  accelerated 
by  some  worry  almost  foaming  in  his  eyes.  He  was 
fearfully  congested  with  something  new  that  the  Baron 
must  instantly  hear. 

The  Baron,  for  his  part,  divining  that  something 
untoward  had  occurred,  was  keyed  to  a  high  celerity 
of  speech.  "  Pardon,"  he  said  to  Thurley  jerkily. 
"  May  I  crave  your  permission  for  a  moment  apart 
with  Herr  Wenck?  " 

"  Certainly,"  Thurley  answered,  herself  wide  eyed 
with  wonder  at  it  all,  and  she  went  to  the  farther  end 
of  the  room  while  Wenck  continued,  from  his  place  by 
the  door,  to  bow  and  redden  in  her  presence. 

The  Baron  was  at  his  side  at  once.  "What  is  it?  " 
he  demanded.  "  Find  your  voice !  No  new  ill  tidings 
of  the  Duke?  " 

"  111  tidings  for  them  both ! "  almost  wailed  poor 
Wenck,  his  utterance  a  rasping  whisper  for  only  the 
Baron  to  hear.  "  Zagorsky  with  all  her  brood  — 
Pelevin,  Jan,  and  others  —  is  here  in  New  York,  their 
agent  already  shadowing  her  Highness,  and  doubtless 


A  PLENIPOTENTIARY  BEGS  217 

his  Excellency,  night  and  day.  You  must  make  them 
to  flee,  or  all  for  the  Kingdom  is  lost!" 

"Zagorsky?  I  feared  it,"  said  the  Baron,  instantly 
calm,  now  that  the  worst  was  thus  baldly  presented. 
"  We  could  find  no  trace  of  the  woman  or  her  usual 
associates  after  the  Princess  had  gone.  Have  you  fur- 
ther news  of  the  Duke?  " 

"  None  —  none ;  but  this  has  overwhelmed  me.  Our 
customary  safeguards  are  impossible  here;  the  chances 
for  violence  are  many.  Unless  you  can  now  persuade 
the  Princess  —  " 

"  There  is  hope,"  said  the  Baron,  interrupting,  an- 
other change  abruptly  coming  on  his  face  as  he  cast  a 
quick  glance  in  Thurley's  direction.  "  No  sacrifice 
now  could  be  too  great  to  retrieve  this  runaway  pair. 
Leave  me  now  and  wait,  to  go  in  half  an  hour." 

Wenck  hesitated.  "  But  is  there  nothing  I  may  do, 
no  assistance  I  may  render?  I  must  only  wait?" 

"  You  will  thereby  serve.     Then  go." 

"  For  God  and  Hertzegotha !  "  said  Wenck,  his  face 
betraying  his  emotions,  and  saluting  he  bowed  himself 
backward  from  the  room. 

The  Baron  returned  to  his  former  position,  and  Thur- 
ley  glided  up  from  the  farther  window,  thoroughly  de- 
termined on  the  course  she  felt  to  be  imperative. 

"  Baron  von  Hochhaus,"  she  said  at  once,  resuming 
precisely  where  she  had  been  interrupted,  "  do  you  not 
discern  that  I  am  not  Princess  Thirvinia?  If  you  do 
not,  I  must  tell  you  so,  and  tell  you  how  weak  I  am  to 
help  you.  Perhaps  I  resemble  your  Princess.  It  would 
seem  I  must ;  for  all  New  York,  and  even  Herr  Wenck, 
have  thrust  this  new  identity  upon  me.  Neither  I  nor 
Mrs.  Van  Kirk  ever  started  this  absurd  mistake.  If 


218  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

we  have  a  little  permitted  others  to  delude  themselves, 
it  seemed  an  innocent  diversion ;  but  with  all  this  serious 
entanglement,  this  menace  to  your  country,  I  cannot 
consent  to  another  moment  of  this  grave  misunder- 
standing ! " 

The  Baron  was  watching  her  face  with  penetrative, 
keen  discernment  of  the  character  that  lay  behind  her 
looks  and  words.  He  had  shown  not  the  slightest  sign 
of  surprise,  nor  the  change  of  a  muscle  in  his  face. 
"  Thank  you,  Miss  Thurley,  for  your  candor,  your 
spirit,"  he  said  to  her  quietly.  "  I  knew  at  once  that 
you  were  not  the  Princess.  You  will  pardon  a  gray  old 
man,  I  am  sure,  for  saying  you  are,  perhaps,  more 
beautiful,  even  more  endowed  with  charm.  It  was  be- 
cause I  knew  you  were  not  her  Royal  Highness  that  I 
ventured  to  hope  for  your  assistance.'* 

Thurley  felt  her  tension  instantly  released.  "  Oh, 
I'm  glad  you  know.  I  have  been  so  puzzled.  I  have 
felt  so  guilty.  I  have  hardly  known  what  I  ought  to 
do,  in  such  a  situation ;  but  as  long  as  it  seemed  a  harm- 
less joke,  it  was  fun,  a  temptation,  to  let  it  go  on." 

"  Your  position  requires  no  explanation,"  he  assured 
her.  "  I  understand  it  perfectly.  I  am  certain,  more- 
over, of  your  sympathy,  as  well  as  your  honest  intent. 
I  am  here  to  implore  your  aid." 

His  gesture  and  the  tone  of  his  voice  in  that  final 
sentence  went  straight  to  Thurley's  heart,  she  knew  not 
why.  "  I  can  help  you  ?  But  how  ?  What  is  it  I 
could  do?" 

"  Much,  perhaps  very  much  indeed."  His  gravity 
was  obvious.  "  First  let  me  ask-  you,  Did  the  Duke  re- 
quest that  he  might  return  again  ?  " 

"Yes,   certainly.     You  see,  I   couldn't  understand 


A  PLENIPOTENTIARY  BEGS  219 

whether  he  had  been  engaged  to  the  Princess  without 
ever  having  seen  her  first,  —  as  they  sometimes  do,  I'm 
told,  —  or  whether  he  really  thought  —  " 

"  Exactly,"  the  Baron  interrupted,  in  his  quiet  way 
that  masked  a  certain  eagerness  to  proceed  with  the 
matter  in  hand,  "  I  appreciate  all  of  that  also.  Did 
you  tell  him  he  might  return  ?  " 

"  There  seemed  to  be  nothing  else  to  do.  I  hardly 
knew  how  to  refuse." 

"  You  had  no  personal  feeling,  no  suddenly  ignited 
feeling  —  toward  —  in  the  interview,  its  outcome,  his 
evident  pleasure  at  the  meeting,  his  desire  to  renew  his 
addresses?  " 

"  Why,  he  was  nice  —  very  interesting.  It  wat» 
flattering,  I  suppose,"  Thurley  faltered,  rosy  of  face 
again.  "  I  hardly  had  time  to  think  except  that  he 
was  handsome  —  and  pleasant  —  and  a  Duke." 

The  Baron  motioned  her  once  more  to  her  seat,  then 
occupied  his  chair-edge  as  soon  as  she  was  settled.  He 
altered  his  course  to  secure  the  information  for  which 
he  was  delicately  feeling,  his  desire  to  know  how  much 
or  how  little  Thurley  might  have  fallen  love's  victim  to 
the  looks  and  titles  of  her  recent  suitor. 

"  To-day  I  saw  you  riding  in  the  park  with  a  Mr. 
Stuyverant,"  he  said.  "  Once  I  knew  him  well.  I  re- 
gard him  as  an  exceptionally  able  and  splendid  young 
man." 

"  Oh,"  said  Thurley,  surprised  at  his  swift  aban- 
donment of  the  former  subject.  "  He  said  he  saw  you, 
at  the  time,  and  mentioned  meeting  you  once  in  Ber- 
lin." 

The  Baron  nodded.  "  Do  you  feel  a  particular  in- 
terest in  Mr.  Stuyverant?  Pardon  the  question  of  an 


220  THURLEY  RUXTON 

old  man  greatly  concerned  in  everything  at  present 
pertaining  to  yourself.  You  doubtless  have  many  ad- 
mirers ;  but  perhaps  there  is  one  —  "  He  left  his  sen- 
tence incomplete. 

Thurley  had  reddened  as  before.  "  Would  it  help 
in  your  dilemma  to  probe  —  to  know  —  Won't  you 
please  tell  me  just  exactly  how  I  may  be  of  assistance?  " 

"  I  will  be  very  frank,"  he  answered,  becoming  aware 
that  the  open  way  was  Thurley's  way  and  candor  the 
most  expedient.  "  If  the  young  Duke  should  fancy 
himself  in  love,  if  it  should  be  no  fancy,  what  would  you 
say  to  his  addresses,  what  would  you  do?" 

Thurley  laughed.  "  Oh,  he  couldn't  do  anything  of 
the  sort,  unless  he  thinks  —  Why,  he's  only  a  boy ! 
He's  not  an  American.  I  should  feel  very  sorry  if  it 
went  so  far,  and  I'm  sure  it  never  will." 

"  Ah ! "  exclaimed  the  Baron.  "  I  felt  certain  of 
your  aid.  Is  it  possible  now  to  tell  me  when  he  will 
come  ?  " 

"  I  have  no  means  of  knowing  that  myself." 

The  Baron  rose  and  paced  about  a  little  uneasily. 
"  Of  course.  But  come  he  will,  and  we  shall  learn  — 
I  arrive  now  at  the  point,  Miss  Thurley.  I  shall  make 
a  very  important  request." 

Thurley  met  his  gaze  unflinchingly.  "  Yes  ?  It  is 
something  about  the  Duke?  " 

"  That  part  presently.  It  is,  first,  that  you  con- 
tinue as  before  to  enact  the  role  of  Princess  Thirvinia ; 
that  is  to  say,  that  you  do  nothing,  state  nothing,  con- 
fess nothing,  that  will  in  any  manner  disabuse  the  minds 
of  those  who  now  credit  the  story  that  you  are  her 
Royal  Highness." 

Thurley  almost  gasped.     She  had  been  prepared  to 


A  PLENIPOTENTIARY  BEGS  221 

abandon  everything  in  any  public  manner  the  Baron 
might  have  desired.  She  had  thought  no  other  course 
tenable  after  to-night.  She  had  even  feared  the  impo- 
sition of  which  she  and  Alice  had  been  passively  guilty 
had  wrought  great  harm  to  Hertzegotha,  possibly, 
and  constituted  a  grave  peril  to  its  Princess. 

"Go  on  with  —  this  pretense?"  she  said.  "You 
wish  that,  wish  me  to  occupy  the  place?  Do  you  mean 
to  everyone?  " 

"  To  everyone." 

"  Not  confess  to  the  Duke  when  he  comes  ?  " 

"  Even  that  would  be  quite  unnecessary." 

"  But  why  continue  the  fiction,  after  this?  "  she  in- 
quired wonderingly.  "  Can  it  do  any  possible  good, 
be  of  any  benefit  or  service?  " 

"  Perhaps  a  very  great  service  indeed,"  he  assured 
her  earnestly.  "  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  explain,  except 
to  say  you  are  already  accepted,  almost  officially,  as 
Princess  Thirvinia,  and  that  Hertzegotha  may  be  im- 
measurably served  and  indebted  if  you  will  kindly  con- 
sent to  proceed  as  before,  disturb  no  beliefs  already  ex- 
cited as  to  who  and  what  you  are.  This  you  will  prom- 
ise to  do  ?  " 

Thurley  smiled  at  him  girlishly.  "  Of  course  I've 
enjoyed  it  —  any  young  woman  would.  If  you  knew 
how  novel,  how  wonderful,  it  has  been  to  me!  I  have 
done  almost  nothing  to  bring  it  about.  I  admit  I'd 
feel  a  little  regret  to  —  well,  be  stripped  of  all  of  it  so 
suddenly ;  but  I  made  up  my  mind  to  do  anything  to 
help  Hertzegotha,  for  all  her  troubles  are  real  and  se- 
rious, and  mine  —  are  all  pretense." 

"  Not  all  pretense,"  he  corrected  kindly.  "  They 
are  just  as  real,  just  as  poignant,  as  those  of  a  King- 


222  THURLEY  RUXTON 

dom.  But  may  they  be  fewer  and  briefer!"  He  held 
forth  his  hand,  took  Thurley's  in  his  firm,  dry  clasp, 
and  raised  it  as  before  to  his  lips.  "  You  deserve  your 
throne  and  coronet,"  he  added.  "  I  trust  they  will  one 
day  come." 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Thurley ;  "  but  I  feel  as  if  I'm 
being  absurdly  overpaid  for  having  a  very  happy 
time."  Her  smile  went  straight  to  his  heart. 

He  knew  of  the  dangers  besetting  the  unsuspecting 
girl,  and  felt  a  momentary  pang  at  the  element  of 
heartlessness  he  was  practising  in  shielding  the  genuine 
Princess,  and  perhaps  Hertzegotha's  integrity,  behind 
this  innocent  instrument  of  the  Fates.  Then  the  over- 
whelming gravity  of  the  situation  and  his  own  relent- 
less and  absorbing  patriotism  —  for  which  he  would 
have  sacrificed  a  score  of  lives,  his  own  included  —  this 
steadied  him  back  upon  his  course  like  an  iron  device 
on  its  rails. 

"  I  could  wish  your  happiness  an  absolute  triumph, 
always,"  he  assured  her  sincerely.  "  Be  sure  that  every 
possible  exertion  will  be  made,  so  far  as  I  and  my  asso- 
ciates are  concerned,  to  secure  that  end.  I  have  your 
agreement  to  continue  as  you  were  —  the  reputed 
Princess  Thirvinia?  " 

"  If  you  wish  it,  with  all  my  heart." 
"  To  everyone,  no  matter  what  may  occur?  " 
"  Of  course.     It  could  be  no  other  way." 
He  kissed  her  hand  again.     "  Auf  wiedersehen"  he 
said,  and  she  presently  heard  the  hall  door  close 
he  and  Wenck  had  gone. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

THE    CALDRON    BUBBLES 

GAILLARD  came  into  his  office  a  trifle  pale  and  more  than 
a  trifle  agitated.  The  news  received  at  his  bank  had 
been  staggering,  yet  had  served  to  arouse  a  rage  in  his 
breast  that  stiffened  all  the  sinews  of  his  being.  The 
first  intimation  of  Fiaschi's  double  dealing  had  come 
thus  belated  to  his  ken.  He  found  himself  practically 
undermined  before  his  least  suspicion  had  been  aroused. 

His  secretary  glanced  up  at  him  instinctively,  won- 
dering if  the  warning  note  received  that  morning  from 
the  bank  had  been  confirmed.  He  saw  that  it  had. 

Gaillard  threw  down  a  bundle  of  papers  and  leaned 
on  the  desk.  "  I  might  have  known  better  than  to  deal 
with  a  dago  Count,"  he  said.  "  They  are  born  to  fat- 
ten on  the  world  at  large,  and  the  U.  S.  in  particular. 
Has  the  list  improved  since  noon  ?  " 

The  secretary  rose  and  went  to  the  ticker,  where  the 
white  paper  tape  was  coiled  yards  long  in  a  basket. 
"  It  was  going  off  when  I  looked  at  it  last,"  he  im- 
parted, scanning  the  figures  printed  on  the  narrow 
strip  of  ribbon.  "  Still  dragging  a  little  heavily." 

"  I'd  expect  that  as  part  of  the  luck,"  said  Gaillard, 
seating  himself  beside  the  desk  and  idly  strumming 
with  his  fingers.  "  It's  something,  I  suppose,  to  have 
found  out  as  soon  as  this  what  my  olive  oil  associate 
is  doing.  I'll  put  a  crimp  in  him  for  this  that  the 
devil  himself  couldn't  iron  out !  " 

"  I  hope  you  will,  sir ! "  exclaimed  his  secretary  ear- 

223 


THURLEY  RUXTON 

nestly.  "  I've  felt  all  along  that  you  were  trusting  the 
Count  too  far,  putting  too  much  of  the  management 
in  his  hands." 

Gaillard  scowled.  "  Without  him  and  his  uncle's 
connections  in  Paris  we  couldn't  have  put  a  finger  in 
the  pie." 

"  Quite  right,  sir ;  but  hasn't  he  got  you  to  put  in 
more  than  a  finger  —  I  mean  in  the  past  few  days?  " 

"  That's  the  joker,"  Gaillard  admitted.  "  My  share 
before  was  comparatively  small  —  all  he  would  let  me 
have.  Now  I've  got  an  arm  in  the  pie,  and  maybe 
part  of  my  shoulder.  He  must  have  held  me  off  before 
to  make  me  eager,  and  now  he  has  let  me  in  up  to  the 
hilt  —  for  this !  " 

"  But  about  your  notes,  sir?  "  said  the  eager  assist- 
ant, returning  from  the  ever  busy  ticker  that  was 
blithesomely  tapping  out  fortune  or  ruin  on  the  tape. 
"  They  have  not  yet  fallen  into  his  hands  ?  " 

"  That's  the  one  uncertainty.  I  shall  not  be  able  to 
determine  where  they  are  for  several  days.  Tyson  has 
let  them  go  —  the  ingrate !  If  Fiaschi  gets  them  at 
all  it  will  be  in  a  roundabout  manner.  I  doubt  if  he'll 
take  them  personally.  He'd  prefer  to  have  someone 
else  put  on  the  screws." 

"  But  you'll  beat  him,  of  course,  at  the  final  mo- 
ment? " 

"  To  a  pulp !  "  said  Gaillard,  rising  and  striking  the 
desk  with  his  fist.  "  I'd  rather  go  stone  broke  and  get 
out  in  the  street  to  dig  sewers  than  have  him  down  me 
now !  The  treacherous  hound !  " 

"  Perhaps,"  said  the  secretary  timidly,  "  you  might 
be  wiser  to  let  me  sell  your  curb  securities  while  the  loss 
is  reasonably  small." 


THE  CALDRON  BUBBLES 

"  Not  a  share !  "  Gaillard  told  him  decisively.  "  I've 
taken  losses  enough!  This  is  merely  a  dip  in  the  mar- 
ket. That's  well  known  everywhere.  I  shall  need 
some  profits  on  that  Q.  &  P.  to  fight  this  business 
through.  And  Metal  Reductions  is  due  for  a  rise  on 
the  dividend  payable  this  week.  I'll  take  a  profit  on 
them  both." 

He  went  to  his  inner  office  restlessly,  closed  the  door 
behind  him,  and  began  to  pace  the  floor.  His  thoughts 
had  gone  straight  to  Thurley  and  Fiaschi's  aspirations 
for  her  hand.  He  was  instantly  hot  all  through,  re- 
calling a  scene  of  the  "  Princess  "  and  the  Count  to- 
gether at  Alice  Van  Kirk's.  He  had  likewise  read  of 
her  adventure  with  Stuyverant's  car  —  and  this  had  in- 
creased his  impatience. 

He  thought  of  his  letter,  written  and  sent  to  Thur- 
ley after  their  drive  in  the  park.  There  had  been  no 
answer.  He  turned  to  a  heap  of  mail  that  was  neatly 
piled  on  his  desk  and  pawed  it  over  rapidly,  in  a  search 
that  availed  him  not  at  all. 

Again  he  paced  the  room.  That  Fiaschi  had  mixed 
their  business  with  affairs  concerning  Thurley,  with  pur- 
pose to  eliminate  himself,  had  not  yet  occurred  to  his 
mind.  But  now  that  the  die  was  cast  by  the  Count  the 
plan  to  beat  him  thoroughly  in  their  financial  deal  and 
so  perhaps  forcibly  eject  him  from  Thurley's  circle, 
was  royally  welcome  to  his  mind.  He  paced  for  an 
hour,  working  out  his  plans,  then  started  for  Alice  Van 
Kirk's. 

He  encountered  Fiaschi  outside  the  office  door,  the 
Count  having  just  arrived  for  a  moment's  conversation. 

"  Ah,  so  very  early  you  depart  your  business  place?  " 
said  he.  "  It  is  not  impossible,  a  trifling  conference?  " 


226  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  I'm  rather  in  a  hurry,"  Gaillard  answered.  "  Any- 
thing new?  Perhaps  you  can  tell  me  here." 

"  Very  good.  The  building  is  your  office,  eh?  "  and 
Fiaschi  shrugged  resignedly.  "  I  have  only  to  inform 
you  this  option  which  we  hold,  it  is  demanded  we  shall 
cable  the  money  not  later  than  the  seventeenth,  and 
this  is  important  you  shall  know." 

Gaillard  colored  wrathfully.  "  But  you  said  the 
end  of  the  month !  " 

"  Ah,  yes,  this  was  my  wish,  my  hope ;  but  I  also  am 
helpless.  This  is  the  cable  from  Paris."  He  produced 
the  cable  in  question  and  Gaillard  read  it  with  a  blur  of 
red  before  his  eyes.  He  felt  convinced  that  his  friend 
the  Count  had  requested  this  demand  for  no  other  pur- 
pose than  that  of  destroying  all  possible  chance  for  him 
(Gaillard)  to  meet  his  obligations.  He  saw  more 
than  the  words  upon  the  yellow  slip,  he  saw  ruin 
smoking  about  him,  and  his  structures  prone  on  the 
ground. 

Yet  one  gleam  of  hope  still  shone  through  it  all,  and 
with  characteristic  American  stoicism  he  accepted  the 
outlook  with  scarcely  a  sign  that  Fiaschi  could  have  en- 
joyed. 

"  All  right,"  he  answered  carelessly,  handing  back 
the  message.  "  Is  that  all  you  can  think  of  to-day?  " 

"  It  is  enough  for  me,"  replied  the  Count,  mirthlessly 
smiling.  "  I  shall  be  oblige  to  call  upon  all  my  re- 
source, everything.  Yourself  —  ah !  you  Americans 
have  such  untold  moneys !  Sell,  I  have  no  more  intelli- 
gence. I  must  also  go." 

His  gentle  hint  that  Gaillard  must  command  a  very 
large  sum  of  money  within  a  week  to  meet  his  obliga- 
tions or  be  wrecked,  was  not  at  all  lost  on  his  business 


THE  CALDRON  BUBBLES      227 

associate,  who  felt  the  barb  of  the  Count's  little  shaft 
diffusing  poison  through  his  system. 

They  went  to  the  elevator  together,  parting  below  in 
the  hallway  of  marble  that  led  to  the  Broadway  en- 
trance. Each  was  anxious  to  escape  the  other,  and 
both  took  cabs  a  block  apart  and  started  a  race  up 
town  to  the  Van  Kirk  mansion. 

They  were  doomed  to  double  exasperation.  Not 
only  did  they  once  more  meet  at  Alice's  home,  and  ex- 
change the  venom  of  jealous  hatred,  disgust,  and  dis- 
trust, but  Alice  and  Thurley  were  away  for  a  ride  in 
the  park  and  had  left  no  word  as  to  when  they  might 
return.  Both  men  went  off  wrathfully,  to  inundate  the 
place  with  flowers. 

Alas  for  plans!  The  quiet  ride,  intended  by  Alice 
and  Thurley  for  a  little  slipping  away  together,  for 
much  needed  calm  and  subsidence  of  nerves  and  pulses, 
had  been  metamorphosed,  almost  at  the  moment  of  de- 
parture, into  one  more  extraordinary  experience. 

Grand  Duke  Karl-Wilhelm,  youthfully  confident  that 
American  manners  were  absolutely  informal  and  differ- 
ent from  those  of  civilized  communities,  had  translated 
Thurley's  hospitable  remarks  with  a  literal  license  posi- 
tively touching.  He  had  come  unexpectedly  this  af- 
ternoon, because  he  wished  to  come,  and  had  found 
an  earlier  arrival  on  the  scene,  in  American  tailoring, 
a  bit  impractical.  Indeed,  he  apologized  profusely  for 
this  somewhat  tardy  appearance,  when  the  dictates  of 
his  heart  and  sentimental  system  would  have  urged  him 
to  the  scene  the  very  next  morning  after  his  formal  in- 
troduction. 

Alice  and  Thurley,  with  one  accord,  had  invited  him 
into  the  carriage.  He  sat  himself  down  by  the  "  Prin- 


228  THURLEY  RUXTON 

cess  "  with  an  alacrity  that  could  leave  no  doubt  of  the 
happiness  he  declared  to  be  his  portion,  and  forthwith 
desired  to  know  of  Thurley  and  Madam  Van  Kirk  if 
their  tongues  were  accustomed  to  French.  His  joy 
could  scarcely  have  been  concealed  when  he  learned  that 
Alice  was  helpless  and  Thurley  fluent  in  the  Gallic  lan- 
guage. Nevertheless,  he  continued  for  a  time  to  ad- 
dress them  both  in  German. 

He  was  a  pleasant  youth,  despite  the  fact  that  he 
had  fallen  hopelessly  in  love.  His  observations,  as 
quaint  as  a  child's,  amused  his  companions  immeasur- 
ably. The  buildings,  the  American  women,  and  the 
brilliant  winter  sunshine,  astonished  him  in  nearly  equal 
degrees.  He  announced,  however,  that  of  the  three  he 
preferred  the  women. 

"  Is  it  very  difficult  to  become  an  American  citizen  ?  " 
he  asked  quite  seriously.  "  Could  one  be  made  of  me?  " 

Alice  replied  that  five  days  usually  bestowed  the  man- 
ners, clothes,  and  money-madness,  and  five  years  the 
vote,  upon  all  foreign  aspirants  to  this  red-white-and- 
blue  preeminence. 

"  Ah ! "  said  the  Duke.  "  And  how  far  from  New 
York  are  the  Mormons?  " 

"  About  five  minutes'  walk  from  Trinity  Church," 
said  Alice  gravely.  She  added  that  the  sect  of  Brigham 
Young  and  his  followers  was  three  thousand  miles  to 
the  westward. 

"  And  so  many  beautiful  women  here? "  said  the 
Duke,  solemnly  shaking  his  head.  "  One  must  live  here 
longer  to  comprehend  the  American  men." 

Thurley  regarded  the  Duke  amusedly.  "  And 
should  you  like  to  become  a  Mormon  ?  " 

His  eyes  glowed  with  all  his  youthful  fire  and  pent- 


THE  CALDRON  BUBBLES      229 

up  eloquence  as  he  turned  them  reproachfully  upon  her. 
"  Princess !  "  he  said  in  French.  "  After  this  discovery 
—  of  you!" 

Her  color  mounted  with  the  undulating  beauty  of  a 
zephyr  over  meadow  clover.  "  I  thought  it  was  your 
discoveries  —  of  our  women,  you  know  —  that  aroused 
your  interest  in  that  obsolete  religion."  Her  answer 
was  in  German. 

He  adhered  to  the  tongue  that  he  knew  obscured  his 
observations  from  Alice. 

"  For  the  others,  yes.  For  me  —  Ah !  what  happi- 
ness I  have  known  since  I  came  upon  you  in  your  home ! 
But  you  shall  tell  me,  Princess,  must  you  live  always 
here  to  be  content?  " 

Thurley  smiled,  and  replied  in  the  Teuton  tongue. 
"  I  hope  to  be  contented  wherever  I  may  live." 

His  eyes  became  imploring.  "  Have  you  no  little 
word  for  me  alone,  in  French?" 

"How  little?"  she  answered.  "There  is  always 
'  non,'  you  know." 

"  Ah !  How  helpless  I  am !  "  he  declared.  "  Those 
who  have  traveled  far  to  find  you  —  do  you  treat  them 
always  thus  ?  " 

She  could  not  resist  the  temptation.  Her  answer 
was  in  the  tongue  he  desired.  "  You  are  certain  you 
came  to  New  York  to  find  —  me?  " 

He  reddened;  but  did  not  for  a  second  drop  his 
glance,  held  magnetized  by  her  own. 

"  How  could  it  be  otherwise?  Have  not  the  Fates 
quickly  brought  me  to  your  side  and  given  me  back  my 
joy  a  thousandfold?  " 

"  But  —  your  Excellency  —  " 

"  Not   '  Karl,'   when   I    asked  it  so  earnestly,   when 


230  THURJLEY  RUXTON 

I  search,  no  farther  in  all  America  to  satisfy  my 
heart?  " 

"  There  are  so  many  things  to  talk  about  —  before 
you  return  to  Hertzegotha,"  she  said,  her  own  glance 
falling  in  the  uninterrupted  ardor  of  his  eyes.  "  Do 
you  not  very  soon  return?  " 

"How  shall  I  say  —  unless  you  say  it  for  me? 
Princess,  there  are  beauties  of  the  land,  beauties  of  the 
people,  beauty  of  the  life  in  Hertzegotha,  as  you  would 
be  certain  to  know.  Will  these  not  appeal  to  you  and 
call  you  presently  there?  " 

"  Call  me  there,  your  Excellency  ?  " 

"  You  shall  make  me  yet  to  curse  that  word  '  Excel- 
lency,' gracious  Princess  though  you  are,"  he  told  her 
warmly.  "  Why  shall  I  hesitate  to  confess  to  you  the 
love  grown  wild  for  utterance  in  my  heart?  Is  it 
treachery  to  your  love  of  America  for  me  to  beg  that 
you  go  to  Hertzegotha  at  my  side  —  my  Princess  and 
Duchess  and  companion?  " 

"  Good  gracious ! "  said  Thurley  in  English,  turning 
suddenly  to  gaze  aside  where  carriages  by  scores  were 
rolling  by.  "  Oh,  your  Excellency,  perhaps  it  is  some- 
one you  know ! " 

His  eyes  followed  hers  to  a  landau  wherein  two 
women  were  bowing  and  smiling. 

"  You  know  them,"  said  Alice,  bowing  as  she  spoke, 
"  the  Custers  ?  We'll  have  to  be  careful,  my  dear,  or 
our  friends  will  think  we  have  cut  them." 

Thurley  immediately  began,  in  her  animated  way,  a 
description  of  various  friends,  in  whom  the  Duke  was 
interested  less  than  in  Mars'  theoretical  policemen.  It 
was  anything  to  interrupt  and  forestall  his  uncomfort- 
ably ardent  declarations. 


THE  CALDRON  BUBBLES      231 

Alice,  with  her  customary  grasp  on  the  situation, 
rose  to  the  moment's  requirements  superbly.  She  had 
readily  divined  more  than  half  of  the  cause  for  Thur- 
ley's  abrupt  discomfiture.  She  had  seemed  absorbed  in 
the  passing  show ;  but  all  her  faculties  had  nevertheless 
been  focused  on  the  looks  and  speeches  of  their  guest, 
whose  obvious  madness  over  Thurley  had  much  more 
amused  than  alarmed  her. 

She  was  naturally  in  possession  of  all  the  facts  and 
developments  resultant  from  Thurley's  interview  with 
Baron  von  Hochhaus,  and,  far  more  than  her  protegee, 
was  pleased  at  the  turn  of  affairs.  She  was  planning 
such  a  dinner  as  Gotham's  swelldom  had  never  yet  ex- 
perienced. She  meant  it  to  be  the  one  sensation  and 
triumph  of  the  season.  Already  a  brilliant  success  was 
promised,  and  now  she  felt  as  if  the  gods  of  chance  had 
cast  to  her  hand  the  most  amazing  combination  of 
drawing  cards  conceivable  in  her  "  Princess  "  and  the 
Duke. 

She  thoroughly  expected  sagacious  New  York  to  dis- 
cover his  Excellency  with  its  normal  celerity  for  obtain- 
ing and  printing  news.  She  had  scarcely  a  doubt  that 
even  this  ride  would  discover  his  identity  in  a  measur- 
able degree. 

It  did.  In  the  briefest  time  their  carriage  was  at- 
tracting such  attention  as  almost  to  interfere  with 
pleasure's  traffic.  In  their  eagerness  to  have  a  second, 
a  third,  or  even  a  fourth  good  look  at  the  brilliant  young 
couple,  delightedly  conversing  as  they  rode,  a  dozen 
women  ordered  their  drivers  back  and  forward  most 
eccentrically,  to  give  them  their  coveted  view. 

It  became  the  topic  of  the  park.  The  topmost 
notch  of  Thurley's  skill,  more  than  ably  abetted  by 


232  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

Alice's  maneuvers,  was  required  to  subdue  and  manipu- 
late the  young  Duke's  ardor  sufficiently  to  conceal  it 
from  outside  observation.  Thurley  talked  like  a  foun- 
tain, spilling  crystalline  water  of  roses.  It  was  like 
that,  a  fragrant,  bright  nothingness  of  conversation, 
as  nearly  endless  as  she  could  make  it,  and  all  of  it 
chaining  the  senses  of  the  Duke  more  and  more  by  its 
unintentioned  charm. 

The  drive  became  a  trial  before  at  last  it  was  ended 
and  his  Excellency  went  his  way,  duly  shadowed  by  one 
of  Zagorsky's  "  brood,"  who  had  waited  for  hours  for 
his  man.  Mindless  of  everything,  and  boyishly  joy- 
ous, Karl-Wilhelm,  already  made  acquainted  with  the 
New  York  habit  of  wooing  through  the  offices  of  roses, 
proceeded  at  once  to  send  such  a  mass  of  fragrant 
beauty  back  to  Thurley  as  even  Alice  had  rarely 
beheld. 

To  conclude  a  day  hardly  less  exciting  than  some  of 
its  predecessors,  the  late  edition  of  The  Evening 
Star  appeared  with  a  wondrously  ingenious  sensa- 
tion, to  the  effect  that  Princess  Thirvinia  and  her 
fiance,  Grand  Duke  Karl-Wilhelm  of  Saxe-Hertze  and 
Heimer,  had  been  riding  that  day  in  Central  Park. 

The  young  Duke,  so  the  story  stated,  had  chartered 
a  vessel  to  break  all  transatlantic  records,  in  hastening 
New  Yorkward  to  the  errant  Princess,  known  to  have 
run  away  from  Hertzegotha  recently.  She  fled,  it  re- 
lated, from  a  mating  repulsive  to  her  spirit,  inasmuch 
as  she  had  never  seen  her  royal  suitor.  Their  dove-like 
happiness  had  now  been  established  in  the  prettiest  royal 
romance  known  in  years.  The  results  had  been  brought 
about,  continued  the  blend  of  fact  and  fiction,  by  the 
timely  arrival  of  some  mighty  potentate  from  Kaiser 


233 

Wilhelm  himself,  said  to  be  Baron  Hotchkiss  von  Seyd- 
litz,  from  Berlin,  who  was  still  sojourning  in  Gotham. 
A  wedding  journey  back  to  Hertzegotha  soon,  in  the 
private  yacht  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  was  the  next  develop- 
ment to  be  expected. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

A    BAITED    TRAP 

THE  wonderful  weather  broke.  The  days  had  been  like 
jewels  of  a  rosary  —  and  were  counted  to  the  Cross. 
Gray  skies,  a  bitter  wind,  and  a  snow  that  turned  to 
rain  and  sleet,  marked  the  first  of  the  winter's  foot- 
steps, treading  north.  Behind  this  desolating  bleak- 
ness there  were  scores  of  jewel  days  to  come,  granting 
forgetfulness  of  all  but  sunshine;  yet  all  the  world 
seemed  an  endless  dreariness  in  face  of  this  attack. 

There  had  been  another  of  the  crowded  days  and 
nights  for  Alice  and  "  Princess  "  Thurley,  with  another 
session  at  the  opera,  and  supper  afterward,  made  more 
than  merely  interesting  by  redoubled  efforts  on  the  part 
of  Thurley's  undiscouraged  admirers  to  alter  a  "  royal 
romance."  More  flowers  had  come,  more  letters,  more 
declarations,  and  even  a  sparkling  gem  of  poetry  from 
tireless  Algy  Dearborn. 

Saturday  morning,  pinching  and  acrid,  with  dirty 
remnants  of  snow  still  clinging  in  the  shadows  and  pro- 
tected spots,  where  the  wind  had  hurled  the  flakes, 
brought  about  two  incidents  of  exceptional  significance 
in  the  fates  of  all  concerned  with  Princess  Thirvinia. 

At  ten  o'clock  a  giant  liner,  in  from  Liverpool, 
landed  four  of  the  pick  of  Germany's  and  Hertzegotha's 
secret  service  officers,  who  were  met  by  Baron  von 
Hochhaus.  They  had  followed  him  as  swiftly  as  possi- 

234 


A  BAITED  TRAP  335 

ble,  and  without  delay  were  placed  in  charge  of  several 
men  engaged  by  the  Baron  himself,  and  began  at  once 
the  search  for  the  truant  young  woman  whom  Thurley 
so  closely  resembled.  The  Duke  had  already  been 
found  —  and  was  kept  in  sight  and  guarded  day  and 
night.  The  Baron  also  made  an  effort  to  protect  Thur- 
ley from  the  lawless  creatures  known  to  be  upon  her 
trail. 

The  second  incident  appeared  to  be  far  less  preten- 
tious. It  was  simply  the  arrival  of  a  letter  for  Thur- 
ley, sent  through  the  Major's  office,  in  the  well  known 
chirography  of  Edith  Steck.  It  bore  no  sign  of  for- 
gery. On  the  contrary  it  convinced  the  "  Princess  " 
instantly  that  her  cousin  had  written  every  word  — 
and  written  in  anguish  and  alarm. 

DEAR  LADY  BOUNTIFUL. — You  will  never  forgive  me, 
I  know,  for  what  I  have  found  myself  obliged  to  do,  and  for 
being  once  ill.  I  am  back  in  New  York,  as  you  will  notice 
from  the  date  and  address  above.  Don't  be  angry  with 
me,  please;  for  I  was  simply  obliged  to  come.  I  w^s 
robbed  in  Lakewood,  robbed  of  every  penny  I  had  in  the 
world,  all  that  you  and  your  beautiful  friend  provided. 
I  hardly  even  know  how  it  happened, —  simply  that  it  was 
taken  from  my  room  while  I  was  absent,  and  that,  despite 
the  efforts  of  all  the  hotel  officials,  nothing  could,  be  found 
of  the  thief  or  my  funds. 

I  had  done  quite  well  for  several  days;  but  was  feeling 
a  slight  relapse  to  my  former  complaint  when  this  occurred. 
A  kind  and  generous  woman  here  gave  me  money  to  return 
to  New  York,  and  I  have  come  to  the  old  address  for 
shelter,  knowing  of  no  other  where  I  would  be  even  slightly 
welcome. 

I  am  ashamed  to  write  you  such  a  confession,  and  should 


236  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

have  tried  to  creep  back  to  my  old  quarters  and  work,  and 
conceal  the  facts,  were  I  not  so  ill  and  incapable  of  giving 
any  sort  of  promise  of  rent  to  the  woman  here  who  has 
once  more  received  me  under  her  roof. 

I  do  not  ask  you  to  come;  but  felt  I  must  at  least  ac- 
quaint you  with  these  melancholy  facts.  It  seems  so  need- 
less for  the  world  to  be  filled  with  women  such  as  I.  God 
bless  you  for  all  you  have  done  is  the  prayer  of  your 
grateful 

EDITH. 

A  more  clever  adaptation  of  words,  phrases,  and  char- 
acteristics culled  from  a  bright  and  cheerful  letter 
could  scarcely  be  imagined.  It  was  Edith  throughout 
as  Thurley  instantly  conceded. 

A  great  gush  of  sympathy,  affection,  and  compassion 
surged  to  her  heart.  In  such  bitter  cold  as  this  for 
Edith  to  be  housed  in  the  wretched  old  hovel,  where 
Thurley  had  found  her  before,  was  insupportable.  And 
for  Edith  so  to  blame  herself  and  apologize  for  being 
overtaken  by  calamity,  was  poignantly  affecting.  It 
was  like  her,  like  her  self-denying  ways,  to  attempt  this 
return  to  Njew  York  and  work,  instead  of  informing  any- 
one of  her  plight  before  she  left  the  warmth  and  com- 
fort of  her  place  among  the  pines. 

"  Oh,  I'll  scold  her  for  that!  "  said  Thurley  to  her- 
self. "  Treating  me  as  if  I  were  an  ogress,  when  all 
the  poor  dear  had  to  do  was  to  let  me  know  of  her 
trouble !  She's  got  to  go  back  at  once !  " 

She  went  to  Alice  immediately  and  gave  her  the  let- 
ter to  read. 

Alice  was  horrified.  "  Merciful  heavens  !  "  she  said. 
"  What  awful  things  happen  to  the  poor !  Why 
couldn't  some  rich  old  woman  have  sustained  this 
wretched  loss?  Why  couldn't  they  come  and  rob  me, 


A  BAITED  TRAP  237 

for  instance,  instead  of  a  girl  like  that?  We'll  send 
James  down  at  once." 

"  To  drive  me?  Of  course,  if  you  wish  to,"  Thur- 
ley  answered ;  "  but  I  went  before  in  the  cars  and  I'd 
just  as  soon  do  so  again.  In  fact,  to  arrive  there  in 
a  carriage  —  it's  hardly  the  thing  that  Edith's  cousin 
would  do." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Alice,  "  if  you  must  go,  child,  a 
morning  like  this,  you  may  let  James  drive  you  some- 
where near  and  wait  to  drive  you  home." 

"  Perhaps  that  might  be  better,"  Thurley  agreed. 
"I'd  like  to  take  a  few  things,  anyway,  —  just  a  few 
flowers  and  things,  —  and  I  wish  I  had  an  oil  stove. 
Her  room  must  be  colder  than  a  barn,  a  day  like  this ; 
but  perhaps  I  can  send  her  one  in." 

"  But  she  mustn't  be  there  long,"  said  Alice.  "  Send 
her  right  back  to  Lakewood;  to-day,  if  she's  well 
enough  to  go.  Poor  dear !  she  deserves  it  now  if  she 
didn't  before." 

Thurley  was  feverishly  eager  for  the  start.  She 
changed  her  dress  while  Alice  was  'phoning  for  the 
carriage. 

In  a  wild,  stinging  sleet,  once  more  hurled  upon  the 
city,  she  was  presently  driven  away,  with  a  promise  to 
return  by  one  o'clock. 

The  ride  was  long  and  cold ;  but  Thurley  was  warmed 
by  the  tender  emotions  of  her  being  and  her  indigna- 
tion at  the  unknown  thieves  who  had  brought  about 
Edith's  discomfort. 

She  alighted  at  last  a  block  from  the  house  she  had 
visited  before,  and  trudged  sturdily  down  the  slippery 
walk,  entirely  unprotected  from  the  storm,  so  filled 
were  her  arms  with  bundles. 

The  place  seemed  forsaken  and  forbidding,  its  win- 


238  THURLEY  RUXTON 

dows  curtained,  its  aspect  one  of  chill  and  dreariness. 
Thurley  shivered  for  Edith  as  she  mounted  the  steps 
and  rang  the  bell. 

After  waiting  a  time  that  seemed  very  long,  she  rang 
again,  and  a  faint  sound  of  stirring  within  renewed 
her  confidence  that  her  cousin  would  soon  be  discovered. 
Then  the  door  was  opened  and  a  little  old  woman 
blocked  the  way. 

"  Miss  Steck,"  said  Thurley.  "  I  came  to  see  Miss 
Steck.  Is  she  in  ?  May  I  go  right  up  ?  " 

"  Third  floor,  rear,"  rasped  the  housekeeper  shortly, 
and  turned  at  once  to  disappear  in  the  darkened  hall 
below. 

Breathlessly  Thurley  stumbled  up  the  dimly  lighted 
stairs,  coming  all  rosy  and  panting  to  the  door  she  re- 
membered as  having  been  Edith's  before.  Not  a  soul 
had  she  seen,  not  a  sound  had  she  heard  in  all  the 
ghostly  place.  It  had  never  occurred  to  her  mind  to 
be  daunted  or  to  hesitate  a  moment  on  her  way. 

She  waited  a  moment  only,  to  catch  an  easier  breath, 
then  knocked  on  the  soiled,  disfigured  panel  of  the  bar- 
rier. 

"  Come  in,"  said  a  weak,  half-muffled  voice,  and  Thur- 
ley, overburdened  with  her  flowers,  fruits,  and  com- 
forts entered  impetuously. 

Instantly  something  heavy,  blinding,  and  pungent 
with  a  stifling  odor  was  thrown  about  her  head.  She 
dropped  her  bundles,  obeying  an  instinct  to  fight  for 
air,  and  struggled  in  a  blanket,  held  roughly  round 
and  over  her  face,  while  her  arms  were  pinioned  to  her 
sides. 

"  Edith ! "  she  called,  or  tried  to  call,  more  and  more 
stifled,  and,  fast  succumbing  to  some  dizzying,  engulf- 


A  BAITED  TRAP  239 

ing  lethargy,  she  felt  a  sense  of  being  closely  sur- 
rounded by  and  gripped  in  the  jaws  of  countless  wolves, 
before  blackness  descended  upon  her. 

Her  last  sensation  was  of  all  the  room,  turned  hid- 
eously ebon,  crushing  in  upon  her,  walls  and  ceiling, 
and  then  —  she  knew  no  more. 

A  large  automobile,  with  a  limousine  body,  closely 
curtained,  had  driven  up  at  the  curb  outside  and  halted 
there.  Five  minutes  later  three  wrapped  figures,  sup- 
porting between  them  what  appeared  to  be  a  helpless 
invalid,  descended  the  steps,  made  a  hurried  entrance 
to  the  car,  with  their  charge,  and  were  rapidly  driven 
away. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

A   STILL  ALARM 

AT  one  o'clock,  with  the  storm  increasing  in  fury  and 
threatening  to  become  a  blizzard,  Alice  Van  Kirk  was 
already  impatient  and  blaming  herself  for  having  per- 
mitted Thurley  to  respond  so  recklessly  in  person  to 
the  needs  of  her  unfortunate  cousin. 

She  remembered  the  dread  with  which  she  had  per- 
mitted Thurley's  visit  to  the  place  on  the  former  occa- 
sion. With  a  sense  of  uneasiness  and  indefinable  pre- 
monition expanding  in  her  more  subconscious  self,  as 
she  thought  of  the  weather,  of  Thurley's  unprotected 
condition,  and  her  beauty  that  marked  her  at  once  for 
attention,  she  rebuked  herself  anew  for  permitting  the 
girl  to  undertake  another  of  these  doubtful  excursions 
alone. 

She  stood  by  the  window  commanding  a  view  of  the 
avenue  as  well  as  the  cross  street  running  east,  eagerly 
scanning  every  carriage  that  might  contain  the 
"  Princess."  Countless  important  trifles  were  neglected. 
She  owned  herself  frankly  worried,  even  before  she 
might  in  reason  have  expected  Thurley  home. 

By  half  past  one,  with  the  avenue  all  but  deserted, 
in  the  fury  of  the  gale  and  driving  snow,  Alice  was 
fidgeting,  feverish,  and  thoroughly  distressed.  She 
felt  so  utterly  helpless.  She  was  aggravated  by  the 
knowledge  that  the  house  where  Edith  lived  was  a  hor- 

240 


A  STILL  ALARM 

rid  place,  without  a  telephone  and  without  proper  heat 
for  such  a  day.  Thurley  would  be  certain  to  contract 
a  cold,  if  nothing  worse  occurred  to  make  this  adven- 
ture the  last  of  its  kind  that  should  ever  be  permitted. 

Alone  with  her  servants,  Alice  felt  more  than  ever 
isolated  and  haunted  by  multiplying  fears.  At  two 
o'clock,  unable  to  endure  the  uncertainty  longer,  and 
possessed  of  all  manner  of  suggestions  and  suspicions, 
she  ordered  one  of  the  servants  to  go  at  once,  with  the 
car,  to  the  place  of  Edith's  residence  and  determine 
what  had  happened. 

"  'Phone  me  at  once,  before  starting  home,"  she  in- 
structed, concealing  her  agitation  as  best  she  might, 
"  and  insist  that  Miss  Thurley  return  without  delay, 
even  though  her  task  is  unfinished." 

She  was  certain  Thurley  would  come  before  the  man 
could  reach  the  house.  She  told  herself  she  felt  re- 
lieved, now  that  something  had  been  done.  Neverthe- 
less, she  oscillated  back  to  the  window  times  innumer- 
able, straining  her  eyes  to  peer  far  down  the  avenue 
gloom,  to  detect  the  form  of  James  and  the  dark  maroon 
of  her  carriage. 

When  the  'phone  bell  finally  jangled  its  demand  for 
attention  her  nerves  were  all  on  edge.  She  hastened  to 
the  instrument. 

"Well!  Hello!  Hello!  Is  that  you,  John? 
You're  coming  home?  " 

Like  the  voice  of  a  ghost,  hard  riding  on  the  storm, 
the  hollow  reply  came  back.  "  I  couldn't  find  nothink 
of  'er,  Ma'am.  Not  there,  Ma'am.  The  'ouse  was 
happarently  hempty,  Ma'am  —  no  one  to  hopen  the 
door  —  nothink  alive  about  the  place,  Ma'am." 

Alice   felt   a   sudden,   overwhelming  confirmation   of 


24,2  THURLEY  RUXTON 

her  nebulous  fears.  Something  sank  in  her  bosom  lead- 
enly.  "  Are  you  sure  you  had  the  right  number, 
John  ?  "  and  she  gave  it  again  with  most  distinct  par- 
ticularity. 

There  could  be  no  doubt  that  John  had  applied  for 
admission  to  the  house  that  Edith  had  named. 

Alice  all  but  moaned.  "  But,"  she  demanded,  "  where 
is  James?  " 

"  Drivink  up  and  down,  Ma'am,  to  keep  'is  'orses 
from  freezing.  He  'asn't  seen  nothink  of  Miss  Thur- 
ley.  'E's  stoppink  where  she  posted  'im,  Ma'am,  to 
wait." 

Alice  hesitated,  a  settled  conviction  of  disaster  to 
Thurley  taking  unopposed  possession  of  her  being. 

"  John,"  she  called,  "  why  didn't  you  ask  at  the  other 
houses  near?  Go  and  do  so  at  once  —  and  'phone 
again." 

"  So  I  did,  Ma'am,"  John  replied  across  the  wire. 
"  I  knocked  up  three  of  the  neighbors,  and  two  knows 
nothink  at  all,  Ma'am,  and  the  third  old  person  says 
all  the  parties  in  the  'ouse  I  referred  to  moved  out  and 
went  away  this  morning  Ma'am,  takin'  a  sick  one  with 
them,  and  goin'  in  a  car." 

"  When  ? "  cried  Alice  sharply.  "  Was  it  after 
Miss  Thurley  arrived?  " 

"  The  old  party  didn't  say,  Ma'am,  not  having  seen 
Miss  Thurley  arrive.  But  four  persons  left  before 
twelve  o'clock;  one,  as  she  says,  bein'  happarently 
queer  and  so  weak  she  had  to  be  carried." 

"  Oh !  "  Alice  swayed  where  she  stood,  but  grasped 
at  her  mastery  of  self  and  voice  with  all  her  strength. 
"  You  —  and  James  —  may  both  —  come  home." 

She  did  not  hear  his  "Thank  you,  Ma'am,"  as  she 


A  STILL  ALARM  £43 

hung  the  receiver  on  the  hook.  She  simply  stood 
stock  still  and  stared  at  the  instrument  which  had  crys- 
tallized her  alarms. 

She  was  utterly  faint,  and  felt  a  sense  of  helpless- 
ness, together  with  a  wild,  unreasoning  wish  to  rush  at 
once  to  the  house  herself,  do  something,  anything,  per- 
vading all  her  being.  Her  conviction  that  Thurley 
was  the  victim  of  some  fiendish  plot  was  absolute.  She 
had  felt  a  premonition  from  the  first  —  and  its  warning 
had  been  unheeded,  so  vague  and  senseless  had  it  ap- 
peared. Yet  it  did  not  seem  possible  that  anything  ac- 
tually harmful,  malignant,  could  have  come  to  the  girl 
in  a  time  so  brief  as  this. 

"  It's  the  Princess  business !  "  she  exclaimed  aloud, 
in  a  sudden  lucubration,  where  her  mind  was  groping 
for  a  reason.  The  Baron,  the  Duke,  the  others,  she 
thought,  were  someway  responsible.  There  was  some- 
thing political,  something  hidden,  in  a  matter  involving 
so  much  to  Hertzegotha;  but  —  what?  Why  take 
Thurley,  whom  the  Baron  knew  to  be  an  American 
girl? 

Her  thoughts  ran  wild  as  she  stood  there,  big  eyed 
with  fear  and  helplessness.  The  runaway  Princess 
might  have  died  —  and  the  Kingdom  require  her 
double !  So  much  was  at  stake,  as  the  Baron  had  said, 
and  he  himself  had  requested  Thurley  to  continue  in 
her  role! 

But  what  to  do,  and  how  to  discover  anything,  and 
how  to  save  the  trusting  girl  she  had  grown  so  dearly 
to  love.  Her  natural  thought  was  the  Chief  of  Po- 
lice and  all  the  scions  of  the  law.  She  evdn  started  a 
step  toward  the  'phone  to  alarm  every  station  in  the 
town. 


244  THURLEY  RUXTON 

But  she  halted  instantly.  To  advertise  the  disap- 
pearance of  the  girl  like  this  might  be  exceedingly  un- 
wise. It  would  warn  the  possible  conspirators,  who 
might  have  committed  some  act  of  violence;  it  would 
wholly  divulge  the  final  facts  as  to  who  Miss  Thurley 
was.  Moreover,  it  might  not  be  a  case  for  the  bungling 
police,  especially  if  the  Baron  or  the  Duke  was  con- 
cerned. 

But  something  must  be  done  —  and  done  at  once ! 
To  stand  here,  inactive,  paralyzed  with  dread  and  fear 
of  some  terrible  thing  that  had  happened,  was  the  ac- 
tion of  a  child.  There  must  be  something  —  there 
had  to  be  something  to  do!  Yet  to  whom  could  she 
turn,  and  what  should  she  say,  and  how  act  swiftly  and 
effectively  to  get  the  "  Princess  "  back? 

The  'phone  bell  rang  again,  and  she  started  galvan- 
ically,  her  hand  flying  quickly  to  her  heart.  A  wild 
hope  surged  through  her  fears.  It  might  be  Thurley ! 

With  nerveless  hand  she  caught  at  the  black  receiver 
and  placed  it  to  her  ear.  "  Hello !  " 

"  Hullo ! ''  said  a  cheery  voice,  across  the  wire.  "  Is 
that  you,  Alice?  This  is  Robley.  It's  such  a  gem  of 
a  day  I  thought  perhaps  Pd  find  you  in,  and  you'd  let 
me  come,  just  to  celebrate  putting  my  wrist  back  in 
commission.  What  do  you  say?  " 

She  had  never  felt  so  glad  in  her  life  for  the  thought 
of  a  man  to  give  her  help.  Of  all  persons  in  the  world, 
including  her  absent  husband,  none  could  have  been 
more  welcome  in  her  helpless  plight  than  Robley  Stuy- 
verant. 

"  Oh,  come  at  once !  "  she  answered  in  the  instrument. 
"  Come  just  as  soon  as  you  can !  "  She  would  trust 
no  more  to  the  wires,  which  not  infrequently  leak,  but 


A  STILL  ALARM 

sank  into  a  chair,  already  made  weaker  for  the  very 
thought  of  leaning  on  someone  else. 

She  had  nearly  ten  minutes  in  which  to  calm  herself 
before  Robley  was  admitted  below.  He  was  directed 
at  once  to  Alice's  one  particular  "  real  home  room," 
where  he  had  no  sooner  entered  than  he  realized  some- 
thing was  amiss. 

"Alone?"  he  said,  as  he  gave  her  his  hand  —  the 
right  hand,  offered  for  the  first  time  since  his  accident. 
You're  pale.  Not  ill,  I  hope  ?  " 

"  Sit  down,"1  said  Alice,  so  absolutely  colorless  and 
smileless  that  Stuyverant  was  alarmed.  "  Something 
dreadful  has  happened,  Robley  —  and  Heaven  must 
have  sent  you  to  the  'phone !  I  need  you  so !  " 

"  Nothing  has  happened  to  Miss  Thurley?  "  he  said, 
his  own  dearest  thought  thus  prompt  to  apply  the 
worry  accurately.  "  What  is  it,  then  ?  " 

"  Heaven  knows  I  wish  I  knew!  "  she  said,  and  rap- 
idly, briefly,  she  reviewed  the  entire  morning's  events, 
including  the  statement  of  the  servant  John,  who  was 
due  to  arrive  at  any  moment. 

"  I  don't  know  what  to  think  or  how  to  act,"  she 
presently  concluded,  having  risen  to  walk  erratically 
and  nervously  about  the  room.  "  I  am  simply  con- 
vinced she  was  lured  to  the  house  in  question  on  a  blind 
and  has  been  abducted,  spirited  away  —  if  it  isn't 
something  worse !  I  hailed  your  coming  as  a  godsend. 
Now  tell  me  what  to  do  !  " 

Stuyverant's  face  had  assumed  a  set  expression  of  in- 
tensity, heightened  by  pallor.  The  depth  of  his  feel- 
ing for  Thurley  had  never  been  gauged  before,  and  the 
grip  at  his  heart  could  not  measure  it  now,  as  it  was 
at  length  to  be  measured. 


THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  Who  in  Heaven's  name  could  have  a  motive,  a  rea- 
son for  desiring  to  abduct  her?  "  he  asked.  "  That  is 
the  first  thing  to  know." 

"You  have  read  in  the  papers  that  Grand  Duke 
Karl  and  Baron  von  Hochhaus  are  both  in  town,"  said 
Alice,  "  both  having  come  to  America  in  record-break- 
ing haste,  to  search  for  Princess  Thirvinia  — " 
"  Yes ;  but  these  newspaper  rumors  —  " 
"  Both  the  Baron  and  the  Duke  have  been  at  this 
house !  "  Alice  interrupted.     "  The  Duke  has   all  but 
insisted  that  Thurley  go  at  once  with  him  to  Hertze- 
gotha." 

Stuyverant  stared  at  her  blankly.  "  They've  both 
been  here?  It  is  not  a  newspaper  yarn?  The  whole 
thing  might  be  a  sort  of  political  intrigue?  The 
Baron  also  made  demands,  or  requests  ?  " 

"Requests  entirely,"  said  Alice,  who  had  checked 
herself  at  the  very  brink  of  revealing  the  truth  con- 
cerning Thurley's.  origin.  "  Don't  you  see  that  al- 
most anything  terrible  could  have  happened,  that  it 
must  all  have  been  a  trick?  " 

Stuyverant  had  risen,  even  as  Alice  once  more  sank 
in  her  chair.  "  Perhaps  I  haven't  any  right  to  inter- 
fere," he  said ;  "  but  Thurley  chose  a  life  for  herself, 
perhaps  even  escape  from  her  country  and  the  Duke. 
She  is  more  to  me  than  perhaps  you  realize.  Her 
wishes  and  her  rights  —  rights  to  freedom  and  the  lib- 
erty to  go  unmolested  to  give  her  kindness  and  sympa- 
thy to  the  afflicted  —  have  got  to  be  respected !  Such 
conduct  as  this  would  be  unpardonable,  even  in  Em- 
peror William  himself!  I  mean  to  get  to  the  bottom 
of  this  —  no  matter  what  the  sacrifice,  or  who  may  be 
involved !  I'll  find  her,  I'll  help  her,  I'll  get  her  back, 
if  they  shoot  me  down  for  my  pains ! " 


247 

"  But  do  something  now,  this  minute,"  said  Alice, 
"  before  it  is  all  to  late !  We  haven't  any  time  for 
walking  up  and  down  and  talking!  What  do  you  ad- 
vise? " 

"  The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  make  ourselves  sure  that 
something  is  wrong  —  some  plot,  some  trap  has  been 
laid.  The  letter,  you  say,  was  from  a  girl  she  sent  to 
Lakewood  some  time  ago?  " 

"  An  Edith  Steck,  who  wrote  that  she  had  been  robbed 
and  had  therefore  returned,  and  was  ill  and  greatly  in 
need,  at  her  old  address,  the  address  where  Thurley 
had  gone  to  see  her  before." 

Stuyverant  went  to  the  'phone  and  snatched  the  re- 
ceiver from  the  hook.  "  Give  me  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company  in  a  hurry ! "  he  demanded  a  mo- 
ment later.  "  I  haven't  time  to  look  the  number  up." 

"  What  is  it?  "  said  Alice.  "  What  do  you  mean  to 
do?" 

"  Wire  to  Edith  Steck  at  Lakewood.  You  said 
she's  at  the  Pines?  If  she's  there  all  right,  we'll  know 
it  was  all  a  job." 

"  But  her  letter,  mailed  right  here  in  town?  " 

"  Perhaps  a  clever  forgery.  It's  possible  — 
Hello!  Western  Union?  Take  a  message,  please,  and 
make  it  a  special  with  paid  reply,  and  charge  me  any 
price  you  like,  but  get  it  off  and  the  answer  back  in  an 
hour.  Yes,  Robley  Stuyverant.  All  right,  ready? 
'  Miss  Edith  Steck,  Hotel  Pines,  Lakewood,  New  Jer- 
sey. Kindly  wire  your  condition  at  once.  Important. 
Reply  paid.'  Sign  it  '  Robley  Stuyverant,'  "  and  he 
added  Alice's  address.  "  Thank  you.  Rush  it,  please. 
Good-by." 

"  But  why  the  girl's  condition?  "  said  Alice  excitedly. 
"What  will  she  think?" 


248  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

"  Anything  she  pleases  —  perhaps  that  some  situa- 
tion depends  on  her  health.  The  main  idea  is  to  find 
out  at  once  whether  she  is  there  or  not." 

"Then  why  not  use  the  long  distance  'phone?" 

"  I'm  an  ass ! "  he  declared,  and  back  he  shot  to  the 
instrument  and  was  presently  making  his  demands. 

Fully  twenty  minutes  of  time  were  consumed  before 
the  connections  could  be  made.  Both  Robley  and  Alice 
were  pacing  restlessly  to  and  fro  in  the  meantime  specu- 
lating, surmising,  attempting  to  deduce  from  the  little 
they  knew  what  might  be  lying  beneath  the  deed  so 
boldly  and  unexpectedly  committed. 

James  and  John  had  both  returned,  and  were  neg- 
lected, while  Stuyverant  waited  on  his  wire.  Then  at 
length  the  bell  rang  out  its  call  and  the  Hotel  Pines 
was  on  the  farther  end,  the  clerk's  voice  sounding  so 
clearly  that  Alice  could  distinguish  every  word. 

"Miss  Steck  is  here,  yes,  sir,"  said  the  voice.  "  Stood 
at  the  desk  not  five  minutes  ago,  asking  for  a  letter. 
Shall  I  call  her  to  the  'phone?  " 

"  Thank  you,  no,"  said  Stuyverant.     "  Is  she  well?  " 

"  She  said  so,  and  she  looks  it." 

"  Thank  you.  Kindly  let  her  know  a  wire  is  on  the 
way,  asking  about  her  health,  and  tell  her  the  'phone 
was  a  second  thought  and  not  to  bother  with  an  an- 
swer. This  is  Mr.  Stuyverant  speaking.  Thank  you. 
I  think  of  nothing  further.  'By."  He  turned  to 
Alice.  "  My  suspicion  is  confirmed." 

'*  Thurley  was  lured  to  the  house  by  a  forgery?  " 

"  Without  doubt.  I  want  to  see  James  and  John  a 
moment;  then  I'm  going  myself  to  that  house." 

"  I'll  get  you  the  letter,"  said  Alice.  "  I'm  sure  it 
was  left  in  Thurley's  room." 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

A    SHATTERED   HOPE 

NEW  YORK  is  filled  with  houses  of  indifference,  de- 
graded and  degrading  old  shells,  where  anyone,  of  how- 
soever dubious  a  calling,  may  rent  a  shelter,  alleged  to 
be  "  furnished,"  and  be  certain  no  questions  will  be 
asked,  no  matter  what  the  uses  to  which  the  apartment 
may  be  adapted. 

The  house  where  Edith  Steck  had  found  her  miser- 
able lodging  was  one  of  this  character,  as  Stuyverant 
realized  as  soon  as  he  entered  the  door.  He  was  there- 
fore handicapped  at  the  outset,  since  no  one  resident 
therein  would  divulge  the  slightest  fact  that  might  be 
concealed  or  evaded,  by  ignorance  or  art. 

The  same  dull  little  female  creature  who  had  admit- 
ted Thurley  opened  the  door  at  his  knock.  She  was 
either  half  deaf,  half  idiotic,  or  an  excellent  actor  of 
the  part.  By  dint  of  repeated  questions  and  not  a 
little  flattery,  Stuyverant  elicited  the  information  that 
she  was  not  the  landlady,  that  the  latter  was  out,  and 
had  been  for  two  or  three  days,  and  also  that  some 
"  perfect  lady  "  had  occupied  the  room  once  rented  to 
Miss  Steck  for  several  days. 

The  "  perfect  lady  "  had  been  veiled  when  she  came 
and  had  never  been  seen  by  this  informant,  who  was 
merely  a  servant  in  the  place. 

This  was  deception  number  one,  for  she  herself  was 
proprietor  of  the  utterly  neglected  house.  Stuyverant 
paid  her  a  dollar  to  take  him  to  the  room  in  question, 

24,) 


250  THURLEY  RUXTON 

alleging  that  a  young  woman  friend  had  called  there 
that  morning  and  left  a  trifle  behind. 

The  "  trifle  "  was  on  the  floor,  when  he  came  to  the 
place  —  the  bunch  of  roses  Thurley  had  carried  to 
comfort  a  comfortless  soul.  Convinced  that  no  one 
else  could  have  taken  them  there,  Stuyverant  took  them 
eagerly,  then  glanced  about  the  place. 

It  was  simply  a  wretched  little  back-hall  cave,  dirty, 
ill-smelling,  abominably  furnished  with  rickety  old  junk, 
and  littered  everywhere  with  half-smoked  cigarettes. 
There  was  nothing,  absolutely  nothing,  to  furnish  the 
slightest  clue  as  to  recently  departed  occupants,  save 
the  roses  already  secured.  What  other  parcels  •Thur- 
ley had  brought  had  been  carried  away  with  herself. 

When  Stuyverant  left  he  possessed  the  meager  intel- 
ligence that  the  "  perfect  lady  "  of  the  veil  was  tall  and 
that  several  men  had  called  to  pay  her  their  respects 
at  various  times.  His  most  skillful  corkscrew  methods 
could  extract  no  more  than  that.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  wizened  little  woman  knew  almost  no  more  herself. 
She  had  seen  little  of  her  recent  guest  and  nothing  of 
her  departure. 

Stuyverant  acknowledged  to  himself  that  he  was  al- 
most as  much  in  the  dark  as  he  had  been  half  an  hour 
earlier.  He  felt  certain  that  Thurley  had  actually 
been  to  the  room  and  dropped  her  roses  at  the  moment 
of  some  attack.  He  was  convinced  it  was  she  who  had 
been  seen  placed  helplessly  in  an  automobile.  But  con- 
cerning the  motive,  Thurley's  condition  when  abducted, 
where  she  was  taken,  and  the  perpetrators  of  the  out- 
rage, he  was  helplessly  at  sea. 

He  telephoned  to  Alice,  relating  the  little  he  had  man- 
aged to  discover;  then  informed  her  that  he  would  call 


A  SHATTERED  HOPE  251 

by  eight  at  the  latest,  deliberately  set  to  work  to  dis- 
cover, if  possible,  the  abiding  place  of  Wenck  and 
Baron  von  Hochhaus. 

Some  hazy  idea  of  confronting  the  Baron  and  possi- 
bly surprising  from  him  even  the  merest  hint  concern- 
ing Princess  Thirvinia  was  in  his  mind,  together  with  a 
wonder  at  himself  for  daring  to  presume  so  far  as  to 
meddle  with  the  state  affairs  of  a  foreign  Kingdom  and 
its  royal  truants. 

He  only  knew  he  loved  this  glorious  girl,  who  had 
come  to  his  assistance  in  the  park.  He  only  knew  he 
must  serve  her  now,  if  it  lay  in  his  power,  with  the  final 
drop  of  blood  in  his  heart. 

But  his  search  was  vain.  For  more  than  two  hours 
he  was  driven  up  and  down,  from  one  small  high  class 
hostelry  to  another,  before  at  last  he  was  rewarded  by 
the  information  that  two  Germans,  neither  one  named 
Wenck  or  Baron  Hochhaus,  but  who  might  have  regis- 
tered under  pseudonyms,  and  might  have  been  the  par- 
ties sought,  had  stayed  in  this  house  two  days.  They 
had  gone  together;  but  no  one  knew  where,  as  neither 
received  or  expected  letters  here  and  had  left  no  future 
address. 

It  was  nearly  half  past  eight  at  night,  and  the  storm 
still  raged  savagely,  when  he  came  again  to  Alice  Van 
Kirk's  —  to  be  mocked  by  his  evening's  search. 

Both  Wenck  and  Baron  von  Hochhaus  had  arrived 
five  minutes  before  him,  and  Alice  had  just  come  down! 

Tempted  to  send  in  his  name  and  request  admission 
to  the  conference,  Stuyverant  curbed  the  impulse  and 
went  to  the  great  empty  drawing  room  to  wait  impa- 
tiently the  outcome  of  this  wholly  unexpected  develop- 
ment. 


252  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

Alice,  in  the  reception  room,  had  scarcely  more  than 
greeted  her  distinguished  visitor,  concealing  as  best 
she  might  her  state  of  agitation,  when  the  servant, 
acting  on  instructions,  quietly  announced  Robley's 
arrival. 

She  hesitated  a  moment,  on  the  point  of  asking  Stuy- 
verant  in ;  then  resolved  on  a  course  whereby  she  might 
a  little  sound  the  Baron  and  possibly  discover  vital 
facts  by  the  policy  of  permitting  him  to  reveal  the  pur- 
pose of  his  visit  while  she  continued  to  act  as  if  nothing 
had  occurred. 

The  Baron  was  laboring  under  rigidly  suppressed 
emotions.  Grave  fears  were  entertained  by  himself 
and  Wenck,  concerning  not  only  the  young  Duke  Karl, 
but  also  Princess  Thirvinia,  still  missing  and  perhaps 
never  to  be  found.  At  most,  his  secret  service  officers 
had  learned  that  some  young  woman,  exceedingly 
beautiful  and  unknown,  had  recently  succumbed  to  sud- 
den illness  in  Jersey  City,  under  conditions  that  vaguely 
suggested  she  might  have  been  the  royal  runaway  they 
sought.  And  Grand  Duke  Karl,  readily  run  to  cover 
upon  his  second  visit  to  the  Van  Kirk  mansion,  had 
madly  proclaimed  his  love  for  "  Miss  Thurley,"  whom 
alone  he  wished  to  wed. 

The  Baron  was  thus  doubly  bewildered  and  harassed. 
If  the  Princess  still  lived  and  was  discovered,  these  two 
must  wed  and  be  returned  to  Hertzegotha  forthwith. 
If  it  should  be  discovered,  beyond  peradventure,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  Princess  Thirvinia  had  paid  for  her 
folly  with  her  life,  it  might  not  be  altogether  preposter- 
ous to  persuade  Miss  Thurley,  as  her  double,  to  assume 
her  royal  place.  The  adjustment  of  a  matter  so  deli- 
cate was  not  a  simple  affair. 


A  SHATTERED  HOPE  253 

The  Baron  was  not  in  the  least  discomfited  now  to 
discover  Thurley  temporarily  absent  from  the  scene. 

"  I  shall  approach  the  subject  of  my  appearance 
frankly,"  he  said  to  Alice,  as  soon  as  mere  conventional 
greetings  had  been  exchanged,  "  and  perhaps  it  is  as 
well  to  request  permission  to  ask  a  few  questions  of 
yourself  at  once." 

"  Please  feel  quite  at  liberty  to  do  so,"  said  Alice, 
masking  her  excitement  and  feeling  of  doubt  with  a 
smile.  "  Perhaps  I  may  be  able  to  assist  you." 

"  Please  acquit  me  of  any  desire  to  intrude  personal 
curiosity  in  a  matter  become  exceedingly  grave,"  he 
begged  courteously,  "  and  permit  me  to  apologize  in 
advance  for  the  necessity  of  pursuing  my  country's 
requirements  in  a  matter  of  some  delicacy." 

Alice  nodded,  and  he  continued. 

"  Perhaps  Miss  Thurley  has  already  acquainted  you 
with  the  substance  of  our  last  conference?  " 

"  Yes,  to  some  extent." 

"  That  is  well  and  should  save  considerable  time. 
May  I  now  inquire  what  attitude  of  mind  Miss  Thurley 
expressed  or  betrayed  concerning  his  Excellency  the 
young  Duke  ?  " 

"  Why,"1  said  Alice,  "  I  think  she  hardly  knew  her- 
self." 

"  He  was  honored  by  a  carriage  visit  with  yourself 
and  Miss  Thurley  recently?" 

"  He  drove  with  us,  yes." 

"  I  am  aware  of  his  instant  infatuation  with  and  high 
regard  for  your  protegee.  Is  it  possible  now,  or  might 
it  ever  be  possible  for  Miss  Thurley  to  requite  his  es- 
teem —  his  love,  in  a  word  —  should  occasion  arise  to 
make  such  an  outcome  desirable  or  expedient?" 


254,  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

Alice  was  certain  now  the  genuine  Princess  was  dead 
and  Thurley  politically  required.  She  was  almost 
equally  convinced  that  Thurley  had  actually  been  ab- 
ducted for  this  reason  and  the  Baron  was  here  to  make 
all  possible  amends,  without,  however,  relinquishing  his 
captive. 

She  answered  incautiously,  "  Was  this  the  reason  you 
desired  and  requested  her  to  continue  in  the  role,  some- 
what thrust  upon  her  by  an  overzealous  public  ?  " 

He  colored  slightly.  "  Certainly  not.  At  the  time 
of  that  request  no  such  necessity  seemed  even  remotely 
suggested,  believe  me,  Madam.  There  may  be  no  such 
necessity  now.  Perhaps  I  am  premature  in  preparing 
for  any  such  emergency.  I  have  merely  asked  you  the 
question." 

Alice  felt,  a  little,  the  constraint  of  his  position.  She 
resolved  upon  a  bolder  stroke. 

"  A  young  woman  like  Thurley  might  learn  to  care 
very  dearly  for  any  handsome  young  man;  but  not, 
Baron  Hochhaus,  by  force !  " 

He  looked  his  genuine  surprise.  "  By  force?  Most 
certainly  not,  my  dear  Mrs.  Van  Kirk.  Miss  Thurley's 
entire  cooperation^  if  not  her  voluntary,  spontaneous 
response  to  the  young  Duke's  exalted  emotion,  would 
be  an  absolute  essential  to  the  furtherance  of  any  such 
development  as  fancy  and  necessity  might  presuggest 
at  this  perhaps  untimely  moment." 

Alice  had  almost  hoped  for  proof  that  the  Baron  had 
procured  Thurley's  spiriting  away.  She  could  have 
been  certain,  at  least,  of  the  girl's  comfort,  security, 
and  freedom  from  violence  or  danger.  Now  she  under- 
went a  doubt,  so  entirely  candid  was  the  Baron's  speech 
and  demeanor.  Yet  she  tried  another  tack. 


A  SHATTERED  HOPE  255 

"  Is  not  the  matter,  the  question,  after  all,  one  to  be 
answered  only  by  Miss  Thurley  herself?  " 

"  Most  certainly,  in  its  finality.  Yet  I  welcomed 
this  opportunity  of  questioning  yourself,  her  confidant 
and  friend,  as  a  diplomatic  forestep,  should  occasion 
arise  for  any  such  negotiations  later.  It  is  highly 
probable  that  such  a  proposition  may  never  be  broached 
again.  I  sincerely  trust  there  may  be  no  such  neces- 
sity. Indeed,  my  next  inquiry  may  occasion  some  as- 
tonishment for  its  opposing  character." 

Alice  was  thoroughly  puzzled,  and,  losing  a  species 
of  hope  to  which  she  had  clung,  since  if  Thurley  had  to 
be  carried  off  because  of  foreign  politics,  it  were  better 
far  she  should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Baron  than  caught 
in  the  toils  of  conspirators  wholly  unknown.  She  grew 
impatient  to  demand  all  the  Baron  knew.  Yet  still  she 
smiled. 

"  Your  next  inquiry?  "  she  said.  "  Directed  also  to 
me?" 

"  It  is  perhaps  just  as  well  directed  to  you."  He 
leaned  a  little  nearer.  "  In  the  event  of  our  State's  de- 
sire in  the  matter,  would  it  be  too  much  to  request  Miss 
Thurley  to  refuse  to  see  more  of  the  Duke,  to  discour- 
age him  finally,  once  and  for  all,  dismiss  him  with 
friendship  at  most,  bidding  him  return  forthwith  to 
Hertzegotha,  there  to  resume  the  obligations  of  his 
life?" 

Alice  gazed  at  him  blankly,  amazed  at  such  a  ques- 
tion, on  the  heels  of  what  had  preceded. 

The  Baron  gave  her  no  time  to  reply.  "  I  perceive 
I  have  too  far  presumed  upon  your  relationship  with 
Miss  Thurley,"  he  hastened  to  add.  "  May  I  beg  the 
privilege  of  an  interview  with  Miss  Thurley  herself?  " 


256  THURLEY  RUXTON 

Alice's  final  hope  was  gone  and  with  it  her  wish  or 
need  for  further  concealment.  She  rose  abruptly. 
"  But,  Baron  Hochhaus,  Thurley  is  not  here.  She  is 
gone!  She  has  disappeared.  I  have  the  most  terrible 
fears  for  her  safety  —  her  life !  I  hoped  that  you  had 
abducted  her  —  caused  her  abduction  —  anything  but 
this  horrible  uncertainty  and  dread !  " 

The  Baron  too  had  risen.  His  face  betrayed  his 
complete  astonishment  and  shock.  "  Gone? "  he  re- 
peated "  Abduction  ?  You  do  not  mean  to  say  — " 

"  She  went  this  morning  to  assist  an  ailing  friend  — 
or  so  she  thought.  The  letter  that  summoned  her  was 
evidently  a  forgery,  a  blind.  I  am  fearfully  distraught. 
Mr.  Stuyverant  has  been  the  only  one  to  help  me.  He 
has  just  come  in  from  a  fruitless  search  of  the  house 
where  she  went  this  morning." 

The  Baron's  distress  was  more  than  mere  compas- 
sion ;  it  was  grave  concern.  He  had  feared  for  some 
such  development.  He  had  known  of  the  dangers  im- 
pending and  surrounding  the  putative  Princess  when 
requesting  Thurley  to  continue  the  role.  He  had  even 
made  efforts  toward  the  discovery  and  apprehension  of 
Zagorsky  and  her  following;  but  had  felt  the  discov- 
ery of  the  genuine  Princess  and  the  protection  of  Duke 
Karl  to  be  a  more  immediate  pressure  upon  himself  and 
his  men.  Now  that  this  outcome  had  established  the 
menace  to  Princess  and  Duke,  he  was  startled,  as  well 
as  afflicted  with  a  sense  of  guilt.  Yet  he  dared  not  be- 
tray his  convictions  as  to  what  had  happened  to  Alice 
Van  Kirk's  protegee. 

"  I  am  shocked  at  this  intelligence,"  he  said  in  all 
sincerity.  "  Believe  me,  I  shall  make  every  possible 
endeavor  to  assist  you  in  discovering  and  recovering 


A  SHATTERED  HOPE  257 

your  companion.  Excluding  myself,  you  have  no  sus- 
picions as  to  who  might  commit  such  an  outrage?  " 

"  How  could  I  have?  "  said  Alice.  "  She  hadn't  an 
enemy  in  the  world!  I  was  certain  it  must  be  some- 
thing political,  something  I  may  have  brought  upon 
her  by  permitting  a  silly  world  to  believe  her  your 
Princess  Thirvinia !  " 

The  Baron  took  a  quick,  impatient  turn  down  the 
length  of  the  rug  and  back.  His  perturbation  was  ob- 
vious. His  rage  against  Zagorsky  was  consuming. 
"  That  such  a  thing  could  happen,  in  daylight  —  here 
in  your  city !  "  he  said.  "  The  punishment  should  be 
so  swift  and  terrible  for  crimes  of  this  dastardly  na- 
ture !  You  shall  have  my  help !  Did  you  say  Mr. 
Stuyverant  has  come?  I  esteem  him  my  friend.  I  may 
see  him  —  now?" 

"  I  wish  you  to  see  him,  please,"  said  Alice.  "  But 
he  is  not  aware  that  Miss  Thurley  is  not  Princess 
Thirvinia,  a  matter  which  I  prefer  to  leave  undisturbed, 
if  possible." 

"  The  suggestion  meets  my  entire  approval  and  de- 
sire," said  the  Baron,  and  Stuyverant  was  summoned 
to  the  room. 

The  meeting  between  himself  and  the  Baron  was  cor- 
dial. Then  in  the  briefest  time  he  was  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  Baron's  innocence  in  the  present  mat- 
ter and  his  earnest  desire  to  promote  the  greatest  pos- 
sible activity  for  Thurley's  return  to  her  friends. 
Hochhaus  did  not,  however,  cast  an  illuminating  ray 
upon  the  facts  in  his  and  Wenck's  possession  concern- 
ing Zagorsky;  and  Wenck,  remaining  in  the  farthest 
corner  of  the  room,  was  barely  aware  that  important 
complications  had  developed. 


258  THURLEY  RUXTON 

Stuyverant  related  all  he  had  found  at  the  house  and 
room  where  the  trap  had  been  prepared,  adding  a  brief 
account  of  the  means  whereby  he  had  discovered  that 
Edith  Steck  was  still  at  Lakewood. 

Reflecting  that  death  could  have  claimed  Princess 
Thirvinia,  the  Baron  was  thoroughly  disturbed  and  in- 
censed. Convinced  that  an  effort  would  be  made  to  en- 
trap or  even  assassinate  the  Duke,  he  became  a  wary, 
sagacious  element  in  the  game,  primarily  actuated  by 
his  country's  needs,  and  relentlessly  pledged  to  the  con- 
servation of  its  integrity,  no  matter  what  the  sacrifice 
to  other  beings  or  their  nations.  And  yet  for  the  ade- 
quate punishment  of  Zagorsky  and  her  lawless  follow- 
ers he  would  almost  have  given  a  hand  or  an  arm,  to  be 
lopped  from  his  sinewy  body.  His  agitation  seemed 
to  Stuyverant  a  confirmation  of  Thurley's  royal  char- 
acter. 

There  was  nothing  to  be  done  that  night,  however, 
save  to  counsel  Stuyverant  to  avoid  the  municipal  po- 
lice and  report  for  a  conference  the  following  day  with 
the  secret  agents  imported  to  search  for  the  Princess. 

The  address  for  which  Robley  had  searched  all  even- 
ing was  readily  supplied,  together  with  the  names  under 
which  both  the  Baron  and  Wenck  were  registered,  af- 
ter which,  with  every  assurance  of  his  lasting  friend- 
ship and  zealous  action  in  this  calamity,  Hochhaus 
withdrew,  leaving  Alice,  and  Stuyverant  as  well, 
blindly  groping  for  a  hope  or  a  clue  upon  which  to  pro- 
ceed in  the  morning. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

THE   ICE   BLUE   EYES 

WHEN  Thurley  awoke  the  day  end  sun  was  obliquely 
breaking  through  the  clouds  and  storm  and  streaming 
coldly  in  at  the  window  of  a  barren  room,  the  features 
of  which  suggested  the  hazy  continuance  of  an  ugly 
dream.  Her  mind  was  dazed  and  uncertain.  She  was 
ill  and  faint.  Only  the  dimmest  shadows  of  memory 
came  to  restore  the  morning's  occurrences.  Vaporous 
ghosts  of  her  last  sensations  at  Edith's  room  haunted 
her  half  illumined  mind.  She  closed  her  eyes,  vaguely 
convinced  that  she  was  lying  in  her  bed,  and  must  soon 
arouse  and  prepare  to  go  down  to  her  work  with  Major 
Phipps.  She  felt  she  had  overslept,  dreaming  some 
wondrous  experience  like  a  modern  fairy  story,  wherein 
she  had  almost  been  a  Princess  —  almost  been  — 

She  opened  her  eyes  again,  feeling  something 
strangely  hard  in  her  hand.  It  felt  like  a  chain ;  but 
she  did  not  immediately  raise  it,  or  raise  her  head  to 
see.  She  was  still  too  weak,  too  indifferent.  The  sun- 
light pained  her  eyes.  What  a  strange  room  it  was, 
after  all,  with  its  broken  ceiling,  its  ragged  walls,  and 
the  shattered  chair  and  table ! 

A  pain  went  through  her  head,  as  certain  functions 
of  her  heart  and  blood  resumed  their  normal  ways. 
With  a  hurtful  throb  a  frightening  memory  surged 
through  the  dullness  of  her  brain.  She  sat  up  sud- 
denly, turning  actively  and  staring  with  blazing  eyes 

259 


260  THURLEY  RUXTON 

at  a  woman  who  sat  on  a  second  bed,  a  foot  removed 
from  her  own. 

Confusion,  rushes  of  blood  to  her  brain,  disordered 
recollections,  and  new  alarms  plunged  pellmell  into  the 
cavities  of  her  skull,  congesting  her  brain  with  illness, 
pains,  a  tumult  of  thoughts  and  emotions.  A  sicken- 
ing sense  of  revulsion  overwhelmed  all  else  momentarily, 
as  she  recognized,  but  failed  for  a  second  to  place,  the 
eyes  at  which  she  was  gazing. 

Then  she  knew  them  —  those  poisonous,  ice  blue 
eyes  so  intently  fastened  upon  her  that  night  in  the 
Horse  Show  box !  A  shudder  of  cold,  and  weakness  and 
disgust,  passed  rapidly  through  her  frame,  for  the 
woman  smiled  —  and  her  smile  was  worse  than  her 
eyes! 

"  Oh !  "  said  Thurley,  and  she  sank  on  the  pillow  of 
the  couch  once  more,  racked  by  pains  and  haunting 
dread. 

"  Come  to  at  last?  "  said  Zagorsky  in  German,  her  ut- 
terance one  of  sneering  and  contempt.  "  Didn't  know 
where  you  were  at  first,  or  how  it  happened?  Think 
how  you  can  pass  the  time  guessing  where  you  are  and 
why  you  came ! "  She  laughed  abominably.  "  It 
wouldn't  be  so  comfortable  and  warm  if  I  didn't  have 
to  stay  in  the  room  myself,  I  can  tell  you  that!  So 
thank  your  fortunate  stars  I'm  here !  " 

The  vapors  and  ghosts  of  memory  in  Thurley's 
mind  became  real  substance,  with  painful  celerity.  All 
events  of  the  morning  crowded  back  in  their  sequence, 
like  a  series  of  shocks,  and  again  she  felt  herself  being 
stifled  and  blotted  from  existence.  She  was  wholly  at 
loss  to  understand  the  situation  or  the  reasons  for  any- 
one's attack  upon  herself,  however,  and  found  the 


THE  ICE  BLUE  EYES  261 

woman  here  so  utterly  repellent  that  nameless  fears 
were  her  portion. 

Once  more  she  became  aware  that  something  foreign 
lay  in  the  grasp  of  her  hand.  She  drew  the  hard  thing 
upward,  as  she  once  more  rose  to  a  sitting  posture. 
It  was  a  light  steel  chain,  secured  to  a  girdle  of  similar 
metal  fastened  about  her  waist.  She  was  still  fully 
dressed.  A  new  sense  of  chill  went  down  her  spine. 

"What  does  all  this  mean?  "  she  said,  her  hand  go- 
ing up  to  her  cheek  and  forehead.  "  What  have  I  done 
to  be  chained  here  like  an  animal?  " 

"  You've  been  one,"  laughed  the  woman  mirthlessly, 
"  a  pampered,  pretty  animal,  useless,  if  not  even  dan- 
gerous, —  if  you  have  the  brains  to  understand  me, 
which  is  doubtful,  —  and  quite  properly  chained  at 
last." 

The  other  end  of  the  chain  was  fastened  to  the  bed, 
which  was  of  iron.  This  Thurley  comprehended  in  one 
discerning  glance.  Half  formed  fears  of  what  it 
might  all  imply  became  inescapable  dreads,  as  she  once 
more  faced  the  poisonous  light  balefully  gleaming  in 
the  woman's  eyes. 

The  sun  ray  was  withdrawn,  as  a  cloud  obscured  the 
great  cold  orb,  and  a  chilly  draft  that  an  odorous  oil 
stove  could  neither  dispel  nor  greatly  modify  swept  like 
another  inimical  presence  across  the  girl's  warm  cheek. 

"  Have  I  ever  harmed  you  ?  "  she  inquired,  ill  again 
with  an  intuition  that  appeal,  query,  or  reason  would 
be  wasted  on  this  malignant  looking  being.  "  Have  I 
ever  harmed  anyone  at  all?  " 

"Harmed?     Huh!" 

Thurley  tried  another  tack.  "  Will  you  tell  me 
where  I  am?  "  • 


262  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

"  Didn't  I  tell  you  to  guess  and  occupy  your  time?  " 

All  that  Thurley  could  recall  seemed  very  far  away. 
She  wondered  how  far  it  really  was.  She  asked,  "  Is 
it  permissible  to  inquire  the  time  of  day?  " 

"  Nfearly  five  o'clock." 

"  Thank  you.     Saturday?  " 

"  Saturday." 

Thoughts  of  Alice  and  of  how  she  might  be  worry- 
ing crept  between  the  baffled  conjectures,  alarms,  and 
turmoil  in  Thurley's  brain,  and  aroused  her  to  some- 
thing approximating  anger.  "  This  is  infamous ! " 
she  said.  "  It  was  cowardly  —  inhuman !  "  She  re- 
membered Edith.  "  You  haven't  brought  Miss  Steck 
here,  too,  in  her  wretched  condition?  " 

The  woman  reveled  in  her  captive's  impotent 
warmth.  "  Miss  Steck  is  still  in  Lakewood  —  useless 
to  the  Cause." 

Thurley  looked  at  her,  puzzled  alike  by  this  state- 
ment concerning  Edith  and  the  reference  to  a  "  cause," 
her  active  mind  swiftly  flashing  from  one  speculation 
to  another,  in  her  effort  to  fathom  the  feeling  of  ani- 
mosity against  herself  which  the  woman  manifestly  har- 
bored. 

"  Still  in  Lakewood?  "  she  repeated.  "  But  her  let- 
ter—oh!" 

A  dim  and  wavering  light  was  vouchsafed  her  grop- 
ing mentality.  She  comprehended  first,  in  a  some- 
what hazy  manner,  that  Edith  had  never  written  the 
letter,  that  a  trap  had  been  laid  with  Edith  as  the  bait, 
that  something  lay  behind  it  all  too  profound  for  im- 
mediate solution. 

It  wove  in  fantastic,  elusive  forms  about  the  mas- 
querade, the  belief  of  all  New  York  that  she  was 


THE  ICE  BLUE  EYES  263 

Princess  Thirvinia.  Yet  why,  even  then  this  —  Clear, 
vivid  memories  of  the  woman's  eyes  at  the  Horse  Show 
—  this  woman's  chilling  eyes,  the  intensity  of  her  gaze, 
the  hatred  in  her  face,  and  the  awe  and  creep  she  had 
then  inspired,  blazed  up  with  singular  intensity,  as  if 
to  reveal  much  more;  but  faded  again  and  left  the 
mystery  black. 

She  was  tempted  for  a  moment  to  cry  out  protest- 
ingly  that  she  was  not  Princess  Thirvinia,  merely  a 
poor  Cinderella,  granted  an  hour  of  butterfly  existence 
from  a  life  monotonously  gray  and  dull  before ;  but  she 
banished  the  thought  at  once.  She  knew  it  would  be 
so  utterly  in  vain  and  futile.  The  story  would  not  be 
credited ;  it  would  appear  the  merest  childish  subter- 
fuge of  anyone  similarly  situated  —  precisely  what 
the  real  Princess  might  attempt  in  hope  of  escape. 

Subconsciously  aware  that  the  chain  and  the  woman's 
watchful  presence  argued  unusual  precautions  against 
her  escape,  therefore  unusual  importance,  doubtless, 
in  her  capture,  and  remembering  also  the  Baron's  re- 
quest that  she  continue  in  her  role,  she  was  momentar- 
ily more  and  more  convinced  that  something  political 
lay  behind  the  affair  of  which  she  was  the  victim.  The 
Baron  had  said  she  might  perform  a  great  service  to 
his  country. 

Her  fright  gave  way  to  thinking,  planning  impossi- 
ble things,  wondering  why  she  was  kept  alive  at  all, 
speculating  as  to  Baron  von  Hochhaus  and  how  much 
he  might  have  known  of  dangers  surrounding  the 
Princess. 

Indignation  succeeded  a  number  of  lesser  emotions 
in  her  being,  and  yet  she  was  weak  and  could  not  long 
retain  anger  adequate  to  the  indignities  here  thrust 


264  THURLEY  RUXTON 

upon  her.  What  to  do  was  the  question,  not  what 
might  have  been  done.  Was  escape  by  any  means  pos- 
sible, chained  as  she  was  and  probably  under  the  con- 
stant watchfulness  of  this  icy  eyed  woman,  who  sug- 
gested some  species  of  vampire  yet  unnamed? 

She  sank  on  the  pillow,  ill  again,  in  a  slight  degree, 
from  the  reflex  action  of  the  drug  employed  to  blanket 
her  senses.  She  could  think  a  little  more  clearly  thus, 
and  realized  the  uselessness  of  questioning  the  woman, 
who  would  certainly  reveal  nothing  of  the  slightest  im- 
portance. 

The  day  was  fast  graying  into  gloom.  She  could 
see  far  out,  through  the  dirty  panes  of  the  window, 
across  the  dreary  landscape  of  denuded  trees  and  snow. 
She  had  known  it  for  open  country  at  the  first  waking 
glance.  The  wind  was  swaying  the  trees.  Snow 
wraiths  drifted  homelessly  across  the  desolation.  There 
was  not  a  house  in  sight. 

She  looked  about  the  wretched  room,  on  that  partic- 
ular side  of  the  couch,  without  a  motion  of  her  head, 
wondering  just  how  far  above  the  snow  and  earth  was 
the  window.  Her  thoughts  went  straying  off  to  Rob- 
ley  Stuyverant  involuntarily.  Someway,  she  felt  that 
if  she  could  only  let  him  know  where  she  was,  he  would 
come  though  death  itself  should  bar  the  way.  She 
knew  she  would  go  to  him  in  such  a  plight,  and  the 
thought  warmed  her  heart  like  a  flame  of  sacred  fire. 
If  she  only  knew  where  she  was  —  if  she  only  knew  — 
if  she  could  only  tell  him  —  tell  him  —  tell  —  Her 
secondary  drowsiness  overcame  her,  and  she  slept  there 
like  a  child. 

It  was  less  than  an  hour  before  she  once  more  started 
to  her  senses,  this  time  wide  awake  promptly  and  blink- 


THE  ICE  BLUE  EYES  265 

ing  at  a  smoky  lamp  on  the  rickety  table  near  the  wall. 
The  windows  were  heavily  curtained.  Not  a  ray  of 
light  could  have  found  its  way  to  the  outer  darkness 
of  the  land. 

Two  figures  cast  great  shadows  on  the  floor,  one  the 
woman's,  the  other  a  man's.  The  latter  bore  some 
steaming  dishes  in  his  hands  and  on  his  arm,  with  a 
waiter's  universal  skill.  It  was  he  they  called  Pelevin, 
an  accomplished  being  with  a  mind,  he  always  said, 
above  the  roles  for  which  the  world  had  cast  him. 

At  the  slight  sound  made  by  Thurley  in  propping 
herself  on  an  arm  the  woman  turned.  "  Get  up !  "  she 
commanded.  "  I  am  hungry.  We  dine." 

Thurley  was  staring  at  Pelevin,  whose  face,  she  was 
sure,  betokened  better  things  than  a  questionable  asso- 
ciation with  this  woman.  He  did  not  turn,  however, 
till  he  had  placed  all  the  dishes  on  the  table;  then,  as 
he  went,  he  cast  a  look  on  the  captive  girl  that  seemed, 
she  fancied,  friendly,  if  not  indeed  compassionate  — 
all  while  Zagorsky's  back  was  turned. 

"Will  you  drink  tea  or  coffee?"  asked  the  woman, 
arranging  the  dishes  on  the  table.  "  You  see,  I  am 
generous,  a  good  provider." 

"  Coffee,  if  you  please,"  said  Thurley,  who  trusted 
it  might  be  as  good  as  the  bare  suggestion  promised. 
She  was  painfully  hungry. 

She  rose  from  the  bed,  discovering  her  chain  to  be 
fully  ten  feet  in  length,  even  as  the  woman  strode  to 
the  door  and  bawled  to  Pelevin  to  bring  two  cups  of 
coffee.  Then  presently,  with  Zagorsky  seated  close  at 
her  side,  Thurley  assuaged  her  appetite  on  mutton  stew, 
with  bread  and  butter.  The  fare,  though  exceedingly 
limited  as  to  variety,  was  nevertheless  acceptable,  being 


266  THURLEY  RUXTON 

well  cooked  and  comfortingly  hot.  The  coffee,  in  two 
large  heavy  cups,  was  brought  a  few  minutes  later,  and 
once  more  Pelevin  disappeared.  It  seemed  to  Thurley 
utterly  incongruous  to  sit  here,  calmly  eating  with  such 
a  being,  under  such  conditions ;  but  she  was  a  healthy, 
hungry  young  woman,  and  to  starve  would  be  the 
greatest  folly. 

Zagorsky  was  not  a  communicative  or  loquacious  per- 
son. Thurley  felt  that  queries,  entreaties,  or  demands 
would  be  alike  wasted  on  the  creature,  and  therefore, 
both  being  greatly  in  need  of  bodily  sustenance,  there 
was  nothing  said  during  the  progress  of  the  meal.  The 
same  inherent  shrinking  from  the  adventuress  was  con- 
stantly present  in  Thurley's  subconscious  thoughts  and 
movements;  yet  a  sheer  determination  that  she  would 
not  needlessly  grieve,  or  otherwise  waste  her  strength, 
possessed  her  absolutely  and  supplied  her  with  courage, 
hope,  and  a  wisdom  rare  and  helpful. 

When  at  length  she  pushed  her  empty  cup  away  there 
was  new  resolve  and  a  steady,  renerving  resentment  in 
her  being.  She  took  one  look  at  Madam  Zagorsky,  al- 
most as  if  with  the  thought  in  mind  of  pouncing  upon 
her,  fighting  it  out,  and  then  perhaps  leaping  from  the 
window;  but  the  wild  idea  faded  instantly,  leaving  her 
sober  sense  a  throne,  and  aware  of  the  heavy  odds 
against  her. 

She  rose  from  the  table,  and  her  angry  glance,  which 
was  also  girlishly  wistful,  sped  along  the  twisted  links 
of  the  chain  that  bound  her  to  the  bed.  She  almost 
started  at  sight  of  a  link  supplied  by  strands  of  wire. 
The  chain  had  either  been  broken,  or  two  short  pieces 
had  once  been  spliced  together,  the  wire  being  passed 
at  least  four  times  between  the  iron  links,  then  twisted 


THE  ICE  BLUE  EYES  267 

hard  and  nipped  off  close  and  bent  down  level  with  the 
strands. 

Thurley's  breath  came  faster,  merely  with  the 
thought  of  things  perhaps  made  possible,  could  she 
once  but  tamper  with  the  link.  Then  Zagorsky  faced 
about,  and  Thurley  sank  on  the  edge  of  the  bed  with 
her  eyes  averted  from  the  woman's. 

Despite  all  the  sleep  she  had  taken  that  day,  she 
presently  felt  herself  heavy  again.  She  made  an  effort, 
at  first  rather  slight,  then  more  determined,  to  cast  the 
feeling  off.  A  few  minutes  later  she  was  exerting  the 
utmost  will  power  and  mental  goading  of  which  she  was 
capable  to  divest  her  brain  of  a  lethargy  creeping 
upon  it. 

The  effort  was  in  vain,  her  struggle  impotent.  She 
felt  herself  dimmed  as  by  some  heavy  cloud,  expunging 
very  life.  With  her  last  protesting  lucubrations  she 
realized  that  the  drowsiness  was  wholly  unnatural  — 
and  was  helplessly  certain  the  coffee  had  been  drugged. 

With  one  despairing  fear  of  what  the  night  might 
bring  upon  her,  —  a  fear  that  fought,  but  had  not  the 
force  to  battle  down  the  narcotic,  —  she  felt  herself 
drooping  head  downward  on  the  bed,  and  was  once 
more  inert  and  unconscious. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

AN   OFFER   OF   HELP 

ZAGORSKY,  being  herself  a  heavy  sleeper,  once  that  con- 
dition of  inactivity  was  achieved,  purposed  taking  no 
chances  with  her  captive.  She  had  no  mind  or  inclina- 
tion for  sitting  up  awake  or  otherwise  assuming  need- 
less responsibilities  with  an  important  captive,  while 
drugs  were  cheap  and  certain. 

At  length  made  certain  that  Thurley  was  wrapped 
in  the  folds  and  weavings  of  the  baneful  stuff  employed, 
she  closed  the  door  upon  her,  went  actively  down  the 
stairs,  and  strode  unexpectedly  in  upon  the  three  of  her 
following,  smoking  in  the  kitchen  of  the  house,  over  the 
dishes  of  their  dinner. 

Inasmuch  as  she  nearly  always  approached  them  in 
this  stealthy  manner,  the  three  were  not  unduly  sur- 
prised. Pelevin  quickly  rose  from  his  seat  and  offered 
her  a  chair.  She  sat  near  the  stove ;  for  the  night  was 
cold  and  the  house  leaked  air  like  a  sieve. 

"  So,"  she  said,  eying  the  men  before  her  with  her 
penetrative  stare.  "  You  are  all  convinced  I  know 
nothing  of  my  business,  and  are  all  of  a  mind  to  mur- 
der the  girl  and  get  away?" 

She  had  heard  no  more  than  a  word  on  entering ;  yel 
had  diagnosed  the  state  of  their  minds  unerringly. 

"  I  was  not  yet  certain,"  said  the  one  called  Max. 
"  I  was  willing  the  matter  should  be  discussed,  with  you 
to  decide,  or  at  least  show  cause  for  this  dangerous  de- 
lay." 


AN  OFFER  OF  HELP 

"  Ah !  "  said  Zagorsky.  "  You  were  willing  that  I 
—  the  brains  and  all  of  this  enterprise  —  should  squeak 
like  a  mouse  at  the  conference  of  lions?  " 

The  fellow  Jan  was  in  a  sullen  mood.  He  was  not 
to  be  immediately  browbeaten  into  his  customary  sub- 
mission. "  We  shall  presently  have  the  whole  pack 
down  upon  us,"  he  said.  "  We  are  not  in  Europe. 
They  manage  things  differently  here  in  America. 
Have  I  not  reason  to  know?  We  should  be  satisfied 
to  obliterate  this  much  of  the  power  and  oppression  of 
Hertzegotha  now  —  take  no  chances  of  her  escape  — 
and  work  for  the  Grand  Duke  afterward." 

"  You  mean  murder  and  run  —  with  our  business 
half  accomplished,"  corrected  Zagorsky  malevolently. 
"  It  is  your  usual  cowardly  method.  I  say  I  shall  get 
them  both,  by  midnight  of  to-morrow  at  the  latest. 
As  for  escape,  chained  logs  do  not  vanish  in  smoke 
through  a  keyhole  and  reembody  themselves  outside  to 
roll  away." 

"  She  is  a  bird  in  hand,"  insisted  Jan,  averting  his 
gaze  from  the  ice  blue  eyes  he  dreaded.  "  If  you  find 
the  task  too  severe  for  delicate  hands  —  It  is  business 
that  must  be  done !  " 

"  Do  you  threaten  ? "  asked  the  woman  quietly. 
"  Let  one  of  the  three  of  you  dare  appear  above  the 
head  of  the  stairs  between  this  hour  and  eight  in  the 
morning,  or  all  the  three  —  if  you  have  the  courage  be- 
tween you !  " 

"But  — eight  o'clock!"  said  Pelevin.  "This  is 
very  late." 

"  I  sleep  late,"  answered  Zagorsky.  "  Have  I  in- 
convenienced myself  for  years  to  bring  this  capture 
about,  only  to  disturb  myself  for  no  good  reason  now, 


270  THURLEY  RUXTON 

when  at  last  I  have  earned  my  morning's  repose?  I 
repeat  it,  eight  o'clock.  The  girl  may  sleep  till  nine." 

Jan  continued  sullen  and  wedded  to  his  topic.  "  In- 
stead of  the  Duke  appearing  at  the  broken  mill,  you 
will  have  a  posse  at  our  heels.  And  even  though  it  may 
be  different,  what  purpose  does  it  serve  to  keep  the 
Princess  here  alive?  " 

"  Several  purposes,  best  known  to  myself,"  an- 
swered the  woman  leader  of  the  business.  "  Even  you 
should  perceive  there  may  be  a  final  necessity  of  show- 
ing this  girl  to  the  Duke,  at  the  window  of  the  mill,  be- 
fore he  will  enter  the  trap." 

"  But  mark  my  word,  he  will  not  come  alone,"  in- 
sisted Jan.  "  One  potentate  in  the  grave  is  worth  two 
in  a  cordon  of  police.  Think  you  Hochhaus  is  un- 
wary? Think  you  Karl-Wilhelm  goes  about  unpro- 
tected, free  to  blunder  to  our  trap  ?  " 

Max  took  his  pipe  from  his  mouth.  "  He  is  still  in 
hiding  from  Wenck  and  the  Baron,"  he  supplied.  "  He 
is  little  minded  for  more  coercion,  here  in  the  land  of 
the  free." 

"  I  have  only  one  question  to  ask,"  said  Zagorsky 
calmly.  "  Who  engineered  this  capture  of  the  Prin- 
cess, who  brought  about  its  success,  who  have  been  the 
failures  heretofore?"  She  rose  and  stood  facing  the 
table,  her  back  to  the  stove.  "  Bah !  Of  the  three, 
you,  Jan,  are  the  least  endowed  with  brains  in  this  as- 
sociation. Yet  I  had  not  thought  even  you  reduced  to 
common,  hurried  murder  in  your  utter  lack  of  finesse." 

"  I  know  my  duty,"  growled  the  man.  "  We'll  see 
what  we  shall  see." 

"A  threat?"  she  demanded  as  before.  "If  it 
comes  to  that,  at  least  fling  it  out  like  a  man ! " 


AN  OFFER  OF  HELP  271 

"  I  make  no  threats,"  said  Jan,  sullenly  puffing  at  his 
pipe ;  "  only  —  " 

She  waited;  but  he  did  not  complete  his  sentence. 
"  I  understand,"  she  said  more  soothingly,  herself  a 
little  fearful  of  this  blood  desiring  man.  "  When  the 
hour  arrives,  it  shall  be  you,  no  other,  that  has  the 
deed,  the  honor,  the  glory,  of  the  stroke." 

He  glanced  up  quickly.  "  It  is  a  promise?  All 
agree  ?  " 

"  I  am  all  —  and  I  agree,"  said  Zagorsky  in  a  way 
of  magnificence  all  her  own.  "  And,  that  being  set- 
tled, an  hour  for  consultation." 

The  council  sat  till  midnight,  resolving  there  by  the 
glowing  stove  the  plans  for  assuring  the  coming  of  the 
Duke  to  meet  a  waiting  doom.  There  were  no  more 
hints  of  mutiny ;  but  all  agreed  that  instantly,  upon  the 
possible  appearance  of  deliverance  sent  for  Thurley, 
the  knife  in  the  hands  of  Jan  should  do  its  work,  no 
matter  what  the  after  consequences  to  any  in  the  band. 

Zagorsky  retired  a  little  after  twelve.  Thurley  was 
sleeping  like  the  Princess  of  legend,  bound  by  a  magic 
spell.  In  its  corner  the  oil  stove,  rank  with  emanations, 
glowed  all  night  like  a  beacon  set  to  lure  trusting 
ships  on  the  reef. 

At  eight  in  the  morning  a  thunderous  and  long  con- 
tinued pounding  on  the  door  roused  Thurley  from  her 
torpor  while  still  her  captor  rasped  a  song  of  sleep. 
It  was  Pelevin,  ready  to  bring  the  breakfast,  but  de- 
siring the  dishes  of  the  meal  of  the  evening  before. 
The  door  was  locked,  a  precaution  Zagorsky  had  taken 
on  her  own  initiative,  lest  Jan  be  overzealous  in  the 
night. 

She    was    roused    at    last,    reluctantly    and    heavily 


272  THURLEY  RUXTON 

emerging  from  her  hibernation,  which  Thurley  duly 
noted. 

The  day  had  officially  begun.  It  was  destined  to  be 
a  day  of  dullness,  dread,  and  desolation,  broken  but 
once;  in  the  morning,  when  the  breakfast  things  had 
gone. 

Zagorsky  was  summoned  to  the  room  below,  and 
Pelevin  returned  for  the  earthenware  cups,  over  which 
the  woman  had  lingered.  The  door  had  been  left  a 
trifle  open,  Zagorsky  desiring  to  hear  any  sounds  that 
might  be  of  moment  above. 

The  man  thus  alone  with  Thurley  abruptly  placed 
the  utensils  once  more  on  the  table.  He  turned  to  the 
girl  with  a  face  transformed  to  one  of  contrition  and 
shame. 

"  Ah !  your  Highness  !  "  he  whispered  in  a  tragic  un- 
dertone, suffused  with  intense  emotion,  "  I  can  no 
longer  bear  that  you  shall  regard  me  also  with  the 
hatred  and  dread,  the  suspicion  and  horror  these  others 
may  inspire.  I  have  waited  to  tell  you,  declare  my 
loyalty,  my  friendship,  my  wish  to  assist  you  to  es- 
cape !  "  And  down  on  his  knees  the  fellow  sank,  his 
hands  held  imploringly  before  him. 

Thurley  was  startled,  more  than  surprised,  by  the 
abruptness  of  his  action.  Something  in  his  face  the 
previous  evening  had  a  little  prepared  her  mind  for 
some  such  declaration.  Yet  she  hardly  knew  what 
were  best  to  do  in  the  moment  that  might  be  vouch- 
safed them. 

"  Oh,  if  you  would  —  if  you  would  really  help  me! " 
she  said,  her  own  voice  barely  more  than  a  whisper. 
"  But  what  can  I  possibly  do  ?  " 

"  Your  friends !  "  he  said  eagerly.     "  Let  them  know ! 


AN  OFFER  OF  HELP  273 

Your  royal  fiance !  In  an  hour  I  must  go  to  the  vil- 
lage for  meat.  A  letter,  a  note,  to  the  Duke  —  the 
brave  young  Duke !  Let  me  take  it  —  if  only  a  line !  " 

"  But  I  have  no  paper,  no  pencil  —  My  other 
friends  — "  she  answered  eagerly.  "  If  I  tell  them 
all  —  " 

"  Ah !  to  ruin  everything ! "  he  interrupted  implor- 
ingly. "  If  so  many  come,  are  seen  from  here,  your 
life  must  pay  the  forfeit  on  the  instant.  This  is  pre- 
determined. Let  the  Duke  come  alone,  he  only  and  I 
can  help !  Ah !  a  part  of  a  letter !  "  He  had  snatched 
an  old  letter  from  his  pocket  and  torn  away  the  second 
sheet.  "  But  a  stub  of  pencil  only ! "  This  he  like- 
wise produced,  with  grime,  from  a  pocket  of  his  vest. 
"  Write  it  —  write  it  quick !  There  is  not  a  moment 
to  lose !  And  already  I  know  where  to  find  him ! " 
The  tears  rolled  swiftly  from  his  eyes.  "  It  is  so  little 
I  may  do ;  but  your  life  shall  be  saved  —  I  shall  not 
have  lived  in  vain  —  I  shall  have  not  have  suffered 
shame,  degradation,  for  nothing ! "  He  dashed  away 
the  tears.  "But  write!" 

Thurley  was  deeply  affected  by  the  fellow's  outburst 
of  emotion.  She  felt  new  hope  in  the  day.  Quickly 
kneeling  by  the  table,  she  turned  once  more  to  the 
man. 

"  Where  am  I?     Where  shall  I  tell  him  to  come?  " 

"  The  village  of  North  Winog,  Long  Island," 
Pelevin  whispered  rapidly.  "  Tell  him  you  are  captive 
in  the  old  mill,  one  mile  out,  to  the  eastward,  where  he 
shall  come  at  nine  o'clock  to-night ;  but  come  alone,  on 
peril  of  your  life.  Tell  him  you  will  go  with  no  one 
else  and  to  bring  no  help  nearer  than  the  village." 

Thurley    started   to    write    in    feverish    haste.     She 


274  THURLEY  RUXTON 

paused.  "  But  to-night  at  nine  I  may  be  drugged 
again  and  fast  asleep." 

"  I  am  cook,"  he  whispered.  "  I  shall  leave  out  the 
drug.  You  shall  then  pretend  to  sleep  —  and  leave  the 
rest  to  me." 

She  wrote  again;  but  stopped  to  inquire:  "This 
house  is  a  mill  ?  " 

"  At  the  front,  which  you  have  not  seen.  Ah !  if  we 
waste  the  time !  "  He  had  risen  and  now  he  tiptoed  to 
the  door  and  listened  there  intently.  "  It  is  nearly 
done?  I  must  appear  below." 

"  There  —  there !  "  said  Thurley,  signing  the  note, 
and  she  placed  it  at  once  in  his  hand. 

He  read  it  hurriedly.     It  was  written  in  German. 

DEAR  KARL-ROBLEY. — I  am  captive  in  an  old  mill,  one 
mile  out  to  the  east  from  village  of  East  Winog,  Long 
Island.  You  must  come  alone  to  save  me,  bringing  no  one 
with  you  nearer  than  the  village,  and  at  nine  to-night!  It 
is  important  that  you  come  alone.  You  must  remember 
that,  or  it  seems  I  am  sentenced.  Yours, 

THURLEY. 

"Karl-Robley? "  he  said  inquiringly.  "But  his 
name  —  " 

Thurley  reddened.  She  had  thought  by  this  means 
it  might  be  possible  to  get  the  intelligence  also  to 
Stuyverant,  who,  far  more  than  all  the  Dukes  in  the 
world,  might  move  effectively. 

"  A  nickname,"  she  told  the  man  without  the  slight- 
est hesitation.  "  No  one  calls  him  so  but  myself." 

'  The  better  then,  that  he  will  know  it  is  from  your- 
self," agreed  Pelevin,  hurriedly  tucking  the  note  in  his 


AN  OFFER  OF  HELP  275 

pocket.  "  The  blessing  of  the  God,  if  I  shall  be  able 
to  help  you  —  my  Princess !  "  Again  the  tears  welled 
swiftly  to  his  eyes,  and,  kneeling,  he  kissed  the  hem  of 
her  skirt,  then  hastened  to  his  dishes,  made  a  noisy 
clatter  at  the  table,  and  sprang  through  the  door  to 
stumble  awkwardly  down  the  stairs  which  Madam  Za- 
gorsky  was  ascending. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

THE   BAEON   AND   A   KNIGHT 

THAT  morning  brought  little  of  comfort  or  hope  to 
Alice  Van  Kirk,  and  nothing  of  relief  to  Robley  Stuy- 
verant.  No  news  had  arrived;  the  mystery  of  Thur- 
ley's  disappearance  and  whereabouts  remained  abso- 
lutely unbroken. 

Stuyverant  felt  doubly  despairing.  He  had  learned 
sufficient  from  the  conference  with  the  Baron  to  realize 
that  Princess  Thurley  was  tremendously  essential  to  the 
integrity  and  future  of  Hertzegotha,  and  was  thor- 
oughly convinced  that,  should  she  be  discovered  and  re- 
turned, after  this,  she  must  soon  complete  her  alliance 
with  the  youthful  Duke  and  completely  withdraw  from 
his  own  existence. 

Nevertheless,  his  fanatical  desire  to  serve  her,  to  be, 
if  possible,  the  one  particular  knight  to  reach  her  side 
and  deliver  her  out  of  whatsoever  dangers  might  im- 
pend, increased  upon  him  hourly.  If  the  Fates  de- 
creed that  his  love  must  be  forever  hopeless,  it  would 
not  be  thereby  lessened.  Come  what  might,  that  day 
in  the  park  had  knitted  a  bond  between  them  that  noth- 
ing could  ever  wholly  sever. 

A  strange  conviction  that  Thurley's  doom  hung 
close  and  loose  above  her  head  had  haunted  his  thoughts 
since  the  very  hour  when  he  learned  of  the  way  she  had 
gone.  He  had  fretted  with  wild  and  increasing  impa- 
tience because  of  this  conviction.  He  was  nearly  be- 

976 


THE  BARON!  AND  A  KNIGHT          277 

side  himself,  to  be  baffled,  impotently  ignorant  of  what 
he  ought  to  do.  This  enforced  inactivity  and  stupid 
waiting,  while  a  night  went  by,  seemed  enough  to  drive 
him  crazy.  Of  what  avail  was  his  eager  love  when  he 
made  not  the  slightest  move? 

Stifling  an  hourly  repeated  impulse  to  seek  the  aid 
of  the  city's  police,  he  could  scarcely  wait,  this  Sunday 
morning,  for  the  time  appointed  to  meet  the  Baron  at 
his  rooms.  When  he  came  there  at  last  the  Baron  was 
no  wiser  concerning  Thurley  than  at  Alice's  the  pre- 
vious night.  Two  of  his  men  were  still  to  report;  he 
could  only  advise  further  patience.  Wenck  was  still 
away. 

At  eleven  o'clock  his  two  men  came,  with  vital  news, 
and  were  interviewed  in  private.  They  had  found 
Princess  Thirvinia. 

That  royally  erratic  young  person  was  lying  dan- 
gerously ill,  unknown  and  unsuspected,  at  the  home  of 
some  loyal,  if  humble  subjects  of  Hertzegotha,  living 
in  unromantic  Weehawken.  She  was  unaware  of  the 
presence  either  of  Wenck,  the  Baron,  or  the  Duke  in 
New  York,  and  was  too  reduced  to  care. 

Vastly  disturbed  by  this  intelligence,  and  yet  in  a 
measure  relieved,  Hochhaus  was  still  tremendously  con- 
cerned with  the  fate  of  Thurley  Ruxton.  The  Princess 
might  yet  succumb  and  leave  his  Kingdom  bereft, 
while  the  young  Duke,  ignorant  of  Thurley 's  disap- 
pearance, was  still  persistent  in  his  declarations  that 
he  loved  no  one  else  in  the  world. 

There  was  nothing  to  communicate  to  Stuyverant. 
Indeed,  the  Baron's  perturbation  grew  with  the  very 
fact  his  men  had  brought  him  no  report  concerning  the 
abducted  girl.  He  had  much  to  do  to  maintain  the 


278  THURLEY  RUXTON 

secrecy  hedging  the  Princess  about,  to  provide  her  the 
finest  medical  attendance,  to  arouse  the  Duke  to  his 
highest  sense  of  duty,  and,  if  possible,  aid  with  all  his 
power  in  saving  the  girl  he  knew  to  be  in  imminent  dan- 
ger of  her  life,  if  not  already  slain. 

He  could  only  tell  Stuyverant  to  wait.  Later  he 
went  to  Weehawken,  skillfully  disguised,  since  he  felt 
convinced  that  his  movements  were  closely  observed  by 
Zagorsky's  agents,  doubtless  on  his  trail. 

At  three  o'clock  a  message  from  out  in  Long  Island 
arrived  for  the  young  Duke  Karl.  It  was  quietly  in- 
tercepted by  the  Baron's  agents  and  brought  to  his 
quarters  at  once,  Karl-Wilhelm  none  the  wiser. 

Half  an  hour  later  the  Baron  returned,  and  the  mes- 
sage was  placed  in  his  hands.  Stuyverant,  having 
been  twice  to  Alice's,  was  once  more  waiting  —  and 
growing  momentarily  more  desperate.  Wenck  had  not 
only  not  appeared,  but  had  not  sent  the  slightest  word. 

No  sooner  had  Hochhaus  glanced  the  message  over 
than  he  strode  to  Stuyverant's  room.  He  was  thor- 
oughly aroused;  but  incisively  keen  of  wit.  He  had 
leaped  at  the  truth  of  things  as  a  tiger  leaps  on  its 
prey. 

"  Stuyverant,  here  it  is  at  last !  "  he  said  as  Robley 
sprang  to  his  feet,  prepared  to  blurt  out  his  impatience 
with  methods  so  lacking  in  action.  "  I  rather  thought 
that  something  in  this  nature  might  appear;  but  I 
didn't  expect —  Man,  what  do  you  think  of  this?" 
He  held  up  a  note  to  read. 

"What  is  it?     Something  from  Miss  Th  —  " 

"  It's  a  bit  of  correspondence  addressed  to  Grand 
Duke  Karl  and  intercepted  by  my  orders,"  interrupted 
the  Baron.  "  Listen." 


THE  BARON  AND  A  KNIGHT  279 

"EXCELLENCY  —  I  have  found  Miss  Thurley,  and  send 
you  immediate  word  that  you  may  hasten  to  her  rescue ;  for 
you  alone  will  she  trust,  so  great  is  her  present  appre- 
hension for  her  life,  and  so  great  is  the  warrant  for  her 
fears.  She  is  a  captive  in  the  hands  of  political  enemies 
of  Hertzegotha,  at  a  small  village  called  North  Winog,  on 
Long  Island,  one  hundred  miles  out,  nearly,  and  is  at  an 
old  mill,  one  mile  to  the  eastward  of  the  village,  where  she 
informs  me  one  of  the  band  has  revealed  a  secret  loyalty 
and  desire  to  render  her  assistance.  Through  him  only 
will  her  rescue  be  possible. 

"  You  must  come  alone  to-night  at  nine  o'clock,  bring- 
ing no  assisting  friends  nearer  than  the  village  proper,  lest 
you  excite  suspicion  and  thereby  sacrifice  her  life  on  the 
instant.  Be  under  the  window  at  the  stroke  of  nine  — 
the  window  at  the  rear  of  the  mill,  and  do  not,  for  the  love 
of  heaven,  attempt  her  rescue  by  force  of  numbers,  or  come 
otherwise  than  alone !  The  one  man  loyal  to  her  High- 
ness is  expected  to  go  out  to-night  and  return  at  nine; 
hence  one  man  approaching  will  arouse  no  suspicion.  I 
shall  await  your  advent  myself  in  the  village.  For  God 
and  Hertzegotha, 

OTTO  WENCK. 
"  POSTSCRIPT. — I  inclose  confirmatory  note  from — " 

Stuyverant,  white  with  excitement,  and  crouching,  as 
if  for  a  spring  of  action,  snatched  the  paper  from  the 
Baron's  fingers. 

"  Pardon,"  he  said ;  "  but  —  where  is  it  —  where  — 
village  of  North  —  " 

"  My  dear  young  friend,"  admonished  the  Baron 
quietly,  "  wait !  Don't  you  see  —  " 

"  Wait !  "  said  Stuyverant  wildly.  "  I've  done  noth- 
ing but  wait  all  day!  I  want  to  get  started!  Don't 
you  understand?  " 


280  THUBXEY  RUXTON 

"  I  do,"  said  the  Baron,  "  perfectly.  There  is  more. 
You  have  not  yet  heard  it  all.  This  also  was  inclosed." 
He  held  up  Thurley's  note  and  read  it,  puzzled  at  once 
by  its  presence  in  the  letter  and  the  method  of  the  ad- 
dress. "Dear  Karl-Robley." 

"What?"  cried  Stuyverant,  more  excited  than  be- 
fore. "  It's  half  addressed  to  me !  Perhaps  she  ex- 
pected —  thought  that  I  —  Baron,  I'll  take  a  force 
of  men  —  I  mean  that  we  —  I  shall  go  in  my  car  to 
fetch  her  back !  There  may  be  no  railway  in  miles ! 
Can  your  men  be  ready  at  once?  ' 

"  Mr.  Stuyverant,  sit  down !  "  commanded  the  Baron 
sternly.  "  Can't  you  see  this  is  merely  a  trap  ?  " 

Stuyverant  halted  in  the  act  of  throwing  on  his  coat, 
and  the  sable  trailed  on  the  floor.  "  A  trap !  It's 
Thurley's  appeal  —  and  it's  half  addressed  to  me !  I 
don't  understand.  There's  nothing  to  do  but  to  get 
there  as  soon  as  the  Lord  will  let  me !  Why  should  you 
call  it  a  trap  ?  " 

"  This  letter  was  sent  to  the  Duke.     I  told  you  that." 

"  It  was ;  but  —  right  there  —  Robley  —  his  name 
isn't  Rob  —  " 

"  And  it's  signed  here  Otto  Wenck." 

"  Your  man,  I  know ;  but  nevertheless  —  " 

"  That's  the  lie  of  it,  man ! "  the  Baron  interrupted. 
"Wenck,  it  is  true  is  over  there  somewhere,  and  has 
made  no  report;  but  he's  under  another  name  and  on 
no  account  would  send  me  a  line  —  or  a  line  to  the 
Duke  with  his  own  name  actually  attached ! " 

"  You  mean  —  " 

"  I  mean  that  was  my  orders  —  absolute  orders. 
Furthermore,  he  would  never,  in  a  case  like  this,  send 
a  line  to  anyone  save  myself,  while  it  is  perfectly  pre- 


THE  BARON  AND  A  KNIGHT     281 

posterous  for  him  to  urge  the  Duke  into  such  a  noose 
as  this  !  A  trap  —  a  clumsy  trap  —  and  this  sort  of 
bait  I've  expected !  " 

Stuyverant  paled.  "  But,  good  heavens,  Baron, 
how  could  —  This  note  from  Miss  Thurley  —  not  a 
forgery,  you  think?  " 

"  I  am  not  prepared  to  say.  It  may  be  genuine ;  it 
may  be  all  a  lie.  This  Wenck  note  is  a  forgery  — 
and  clever  as  the  fiends.  It  sums  up  all  a  trap,  my 
son,  to  compass  a  double  murder." 

Stuyverant  went  white  about  the  mouth.  "  Mur- 
der!" 

"  Sit  down,"  urged  the  Baron  more  quietly.  "  This 
is  a  matter  of  life  and  death  to  the  beautiful  woman  I 
feel  you  would  serve  to  the  uttermost  limits  of  your 
strength." 

"  My  life !     My  life !     I  mean  it,  sir !  " 

"  Then,  in  the  name  of  the  Heaven  you  implored,  be 
calm  a  little  and  assist  me  as  far  as  you  may." 

"  You  think  she's  alive  ?  She  may  be  there  —  that 
village,  North  Winog?  " 

"  It  is  the  barest  hope  in  the  world.  It  is  far  more 
likely  she  is  far  away  in  another  direction,  —  God 
alone  knows  where,  —  and  yet,  it  is  all  we  have  at  pres- 
ent, and  you  might  at  least  investigate;  though  the 
dangers,  I  warn  you,  are  great." 

The  younger  man  was  confident.  "  I'll  simply  take 
a  dozen  men  —  picked  fighters  —  gun  fighters,  at  that 
—  and  clean  up  —  " 

"  So  I  feared ! "  It  was  dryly  remarked,  and  the 
Baron  screwed  up  his  mouth.  "  If  she  is  there  at  all, 
and  alive,  your  course  would  ring  her  knell  the  instant 
your  men  appeared.  It  is  no  idle  threat,  that  part  of 


282  THURLEY  RUXTON 

the  letter  that  warns  the  Duke  he  must  be  certain  to 
come  alone,  his  friends  no  closer  than  the  village.  Of 
what  avail  are  friends  a  mile  away  ?  " 

"  Then  I'll  go  alone,  though  all  the  demons  out  of 
Hades  —  " 

"  And  be  quietly  captured  there  beneath  the  window. 
When  they  find  you  are  not  the  Duke,  what  then? 
And  you  wouldn't  expect,  with  a  letter  as  false  as  this, 
that  Miss  Thurley,  as  you  call  her,  would  be  standing 
at  the  window  waiting  to  leap  into  your  arms  ?  " 

Stuyverant  saw  the  situation,  yet  clung  to  a  species 
of  hope.  "  Good  heavens,  man !  do  you  expect  me  to 
do  nothing?  If  she's  there  at  all,  and  in  momentary 
danger  of  her  life,  I've  got  to  take  a  chance  —  that's 
all!" 

"  And  give  yourself  none,"  commented  the  Baron 
dryly.  "  If  you  mean  to  help  in  this  affair,  go  over, 
if  you  please,  to  North  Winog,  with  your  car  and  your 
man,  and  ascertain,  if  possible,  whether  or  not  any 
strangers  have  recently  come  to  that  neighborhood  in 
peculiar  circumstances  and  are  occupying  any  old 
mill." 

"And  then?" 

"  Then  report  to  me,  or  at  most  adopt  some  sane 
expedient  for  the  safe  delivery  of  the  captive,  should 
you  find  her  actually  imprisoned  and  alive  there- 
abouts." 

"But  you?"  demanded  Stuyverant.  "In  the 
meantime  you  are  certainly  as  deeply  interested  — 
perhaps  more  deeply  interested.  Where  will  you  be 
with  your  men?  What  will  they  all  be  doing?  " 

"  Scouring  the  darkest,  farthest  corners  of  all  New 
York,"  said  the  Baron  laconically,  "  endeavoring  to  re- 


THE  BARON  AND  A  KNIGHT  283 

trieve  any  time  we  may  lose  by  sending  you  off  to  this 
village." 

"  Then  you  think  she  isn't  there?  " 

The  Baron  smiled.  "  It  would  be  almost  too  good 
to  be  true." 

"  I  shall  go  and  see,"  said  Stuyverant.  "  God  grant 
I  may  find  her  safe !  "  He  flung  on  his  coat,  which  had 
fallen  to  a  chair. 

"  Amen  to  that !  "  answered  the  Baron,  his  fine  old 
mouth  slightly  twitching,  and  his  eyes  suspiciously 
moist.  Then  he  placed  his  hands  on  Robley's  shoul- 
ders. "  Don't  take  the  slightest  unnecessary  risk,  my 
boy,"  he  added.  "  Serve  her  as  far  as  you  like,  — 
with  your  life,  if  you  must,  —  but  be  certain  first  it  is 
a  service.  My  affection  for  you  is  great.  To  sacri- 
fice another  life  —  youth  —  Take  no  risks,  no  risks 
that  can  do  no  good  in  the  end." 

Stuyverant  was  greatly  affected.  His  fine  young 
face  took  on  an  expression  approximating  sublimity. 

"  I  would  go  through  anything  to  serve  her,"  he 
stated  simply.  "  And  because  she  has  written  '  Robley  ' 
here,  I  am  certain  she  lives,  and  sent  this  note  and  ex- 
pects —  well,  someone,  at  nine  o'clock  to-night." 

The  Baron  could  say  no  more.  He  wrung  the  young 
man's  hand  with  tremulous  intensity  and  watched  him 
go  out  at  the  door.  Then  he  sank  on  a  chair,  limp  and 
wretched,  staring  at  the  carpet.  He  knew  what  the 
dangers  were  into  which  this  youth  would  plunge,  the 
dangers  into  which,  he  confessed,  he  had  feared  Thurley 
Ruxton  would  fall. 

"  God  help  us  all !  "  he  murmured.  "  I  must  serve 
Hertzegotha  first ! " 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

THE   ONE  WEAK   LINK 

THE  day  with  Thurley  was  one  long  monotony  of  fear, 
disgust,  and  helplessness.  The  windows  had  been 
finally  uncurtained,  late  in  the  morning;  but  the  day 
was  gray  and  dreary,  while  the  atmosphere  within  was 
murky  and  foul  with  odors  from  below,  and  the  reek  of 
the  stove  that  kept  the  room  slightly  warmer  than 
freezing. 

Zagorsky  remained  at  her  captive's  side  almost  con- 
stantly. She  seldom  spoke,  and  Thurley  would  never 
have  addressed  her  voluntarily,  since  questions  and 
pleading  would  have  been  of  no  avail,  and  conversa- 
tion was  impossible.  As  often  as  she  encountered  the 
ice  blue  stare  of  the  woman's  eyes,  she  shuddered  anew 
with  repugnance  and  the  certainty  of  a  gross,  malevo- 
lent mind  behind  their  baleful  glistening. 

She  had  found  herself  wrapped  in  an  exceptionally 
long,  gray  cloak,  patched  and  dirty,  but  at  least  of 
wool,  and  therefore  slightly  comforting,  in  this  leaky 
old  hovel,  long  before  abandoned  as  a  human  habita- 
tion. She  spent  her  time  lying  or  sitting  on  the  bed, 
or  walking  the  few  feet  rendered  possible  by  the  meager 
length  of  chain. 

She  did  not  sleep  again.     From  time  to  time  she 

heard  a  murmur  of  voices,  where  the  men  below  were 

repeatedly   protesting   against   the   delays    of   Madam 

•     Zagorsky.     Now  and  again  the  woman  descended  on 

284 


THE  ONE  WEAK  LINK  285 

the  trio,  to  soothe  or  to  domineer,  as  occasion  might  de- 
mand. Never  for  more  than  five  minutes  at  a  time  did 
she  thus  leave  Thurley  to  herself  —  and  the  girl  was 
aware  of  the  utter  futility  of  attempted  escape  in  such 
interim,  or  in  the  glare  of  day. 

Twice  she  had  dared  snatch  up  her  chain  and  try 
with  her  fingers  to  loosen  the  wires,  where  the  twisted 
ends  were  nipped  and  bent  over  on  the  link.  She  had 
no  intention  of  doing  more  than  barely  prepare  the 
stubborn  splice  for  possible  tampering  later  on ;  but 
even  this  seemed  quite  impractical  to  fingers  fashioned 
delicately  and  unprovided  with  a  tool. 

On  the  last  occasion,  nevertheless,  she  found  an  edge 
on  the  iron  bed  where  the  twist  of  wire,  being  once  en- 
gaged, was  readily  bent  backward  on  the  link.  It  did 
not  break,  being  tough  and  malleable,  and  she  barely 
had  time  to  bend  it  once  more  to  its  former  position 
when  Zagorsky  again  returned. 

There  were  no  more  opportunities  to  labor  with  the 
wire,  and  at  most  it  was  merely  possible  for  Thurley  to 
sit  there  planning  how,  if  her  chance  should  come,  she 
could  bend  and  bend  that  metal  prong  till  its  point 
should  finally  snap. 

She  planned  all  day  at  a  thousand  things  impossi- 
ble and  even  extravagant.  No  thought  had  entered 
her  mind  again  of  attempting  a  struggle  with  the 
woman.  She  knew  her  strength  could  avail  her  nothing 
in  a  combat  so  entirely  unequal.  And  the  noise  would 
disturb  the  men. 

Her  hope  attached  itself  with  childlike  confidence  to 
the  man  Pelevin,  hour  after  hour.  Her  only  fear  con- 
cerning him  was  that  of  his  inability,  surrounded  as  he 
was  by  other  men,  to  render  the  necessary  help  at  the 


286  THURLEY  RUXTON 

vital  moment.  She  had  doubts  again  of  the  arrival  of 
the  note  addressed  to  the  Duke  and  Robley.  It  seemed 
to  her  she  was  very  far  from  all  the  world  of  Gotham. 
The  note  might  be  lost,  intercepted.  The  day  being 
Sunday,  it  might  easily  fail  of  delivery.  If  no  one 
should  come  that  night  at  nine  — 

A  fever  of  anxiety,  hope  succeeding  doubt,  eager 
planning  for  herself,  and  increasing  dread  and  illness 
in  this  fetid  room,  was  flaming  her  cheeks  and  eyes. 
The  day  was  so  frightfully  long,  the  unknown  fate  im- 
pending, and  the  mystery  as  to  why  she  had  been  thus 
entrapped,  were  so  baffling  and  frightening  as  the  hours 
wore  slowly  on ! 

She  could  not  have  known  that  Pelevin,  clever  actor 
that  he  was,  had  tricked  and  deceived  her  with  shame- 
less duplicity,  playing  on  her  feelings  and  credulity  to 
procure  her  note  to  the  Duke;  yet  she  finally  doubted 
even  him.  It  was  merely  the  accumulated  despair  to 
which  she  was  the  victim,  making  its  pessimistic  in- 
roads to  her  courage. 

She  doubted  everything  at  times,  and  was  hopelessly 
haunted  by  instinctive  alarms,  as  if  the  violence  hover- 
ing in  the  air  and  lurid  with  murderous  desire,  was 
someway  communicated  to  her  more  receptive  self, 
which  could  not  interpret  their  meaning. 

Yet  back  to  her  hope  in  Pelevin  she  fled,  as  if  aware 
it  was  all  she  had,  no  matter  how  tenuous  its  substance. 
He  had  promised  not  to  drug  her  coffee.  If  he  should 
lie !  She  might  be  wiser  to  refuse  the  draft  and  take 
no  chances !  But  the  action,  on  the  other  hand,  might 
readily  excite  the  woman's  suspicions,  even  against  Pel- 
evin. 

Her  fever  rose  with  the  waning  of  day,  and  when,  at 


THE  ONE  WEAK  LINK  287 

five,  the  sun  went  down  in  a  red  streaked  sky,  suggest- 
ing blood  and  fire  that  someway  were  not  warm,  she  felt 
the  landscape's  desolation  creeping  coldly  to  her  heart. 
She  had  risen  from  the  bed  so  many  times,  in  the  spirit 
of  restlessness  increasing  steadily,  that  she  feared  the 
woman  must  note  her  condition  and  pounce  upon  its 
actuating  cause.  With  all  the  power  of  her  mind's 
volition  she  remained  at  peace,  attempting  to  convey  an 
impression  of  sleepiness  again,  and  dullness  for  lack 
of  air. 

"May  we  have  the  window  opened  for  a  moment?  " 
she  finally  asked.  "  The  air  will  be  better  for  freshen- 
ing." 

"  It  suits  me  well  enough  as  it  is,"  said  Zagorsky. 
"  Once  I  heard  of  a  man  on  the  gallows  who  was  given 
a  glass  of  beer,  from  which  he  blew  the  froth.  Some- 
one questioned  why  he  blew  it  away.  He  said  it  was 
not  healthy  —  and  then  he  was  hanged."  She  laughed 
uproariously,  shaking  with  mirth  at  the  grimness  of 
her  joke. 

A  sickening  conviction  of  doom  settled  at  Thurley's 
heart.  Ominous  night  and  ominous  threat  seemed 
brooding  together  in  the  shadows  that  fell  upon  the 
snow  bound  world  and  house.  There  was  nothing  to 
do  but  wait  —  and  wait  for  —  God  alone  knew  what. 

Evidence  of  more  uneasiness  increased  below  the 
stairs.  Something  seemed  amiss.  Zagorsky  was  up 
and  down  repeatedly  between  the  hours  of  five  and  six. 
There  appeared  to  be  no  preparations  for  dinner  or 
even  a  thought  of  eating. 

It  was  all  concerned  with  Pelevin,  not  yet  returned 
from  sending  Thurley's  note,  with  nis  own,  to  the 
young  Grand  Duke  Karl-Wilhelm.  It  was  half-past 


288  THURLEY  RUXTON 

seven  when  he  came  at  last,  and  the  news  he  brought 
was  satisfactory. 

Dinner  was  served  to  Thurley  and  the  woman  a  little 
after  eight.  It  was  precisely  the  sort  of  meal  supplied 
the  previous  evening;  in  fact,  part  of  the  stew  still  re- 
maining unconsumed.  Coffee  was  provided  as  before, 
the  man  Pelevin  snatching  at  a  momentary  opportunity 
to  nod  at  Thurley  reassuringly  while  the  cups  were  be- 
ing placed  on  the  table. 

The  man  had  no  more  than  retreated  through  the 
door  than  Zagorsky  was  on  her  feet. 

"  Pelevin ! "  she  called  and,  following  actively,  half 
closed  the  door  behind  her  as  she  gave  him  some  manner 
of  instructions,  delivered  in  Russian  and  barely  above 
a  whisper. 

Instantly,  for  no  absolute  reason  she  might  at  the 
time  have  explained,  Thurley  conceived  an  extraordi- 
nary plan  —  to  exchange  her  cup  for  the  woman's ! 
She  did  so  before  she  could  halt  the  action  or  reflect  as 
to  why  it  was  done.  Her  heart,  however,  swung  like 
a  wind-swayed  bell  in  its  tower.  Her  hand  shook  as  if 
with  ague.  She  knew  it  was  not  with  some  sudden 
distrust  of  Pelevin  she  had  acted ;  she  had  merely  obeyed 
some  blind  intuition  and  prompting  to  be  doubly  safe, 
should  treachery  lurk  in  the  drink. 

Zagorsky  returned  almost  immediately.  The  trifling 
sound  that  Thurley  had  made,  transferring  the  heavy 
earthenware  receptacles,  had  alarmed  her  frightfully. 
She  was  certain  the  movement  had  been  heard  and  the 
ruse  would  be  detected. 

Partly  to  hide  her  confusion,  partly  to  complete  her 
action  and  force  her  own  cup  upon  Zagorsky,  she 
drank  the  portion  now  allotted  to  herself  without  even 


THE  ONE  WEAK  LINK  289 

waiting  for  sugar.  She  was  drinking,  indeed,  when  the 
woman  came  and  resumed  her  seat  at  the  table.  Za- 
gorsky  glanced  at  her  only  once,  a  grim  expression  of 
satisfaction  betrayed  for  a  second  in  her  eyes.  She 
had  feared  Thurley  might  refuse  the  coffee  altogether. 

In  the  wildest  flutter  of  excitement  and  fear,  Thurley 
watched  for  the  woman  to  drink.  Her  heart  continued 
its  tumult,  which  she  was  certain  Zagorsky  must  hear. 
She  rose  from  her  seat  and  proceeded  to  the  bed,  watch- 
ing from  the  corner  of  her  eyes.  Below  the  men  left 
silently,  to  proceed  to  an  old  abandoned  grist  mill  a 
mile  to  the  east  of  North  Winog. 

Zagorsky  drank,  draining  the  cup  to  the  dregs. 

"  Horrible  water,  unfit  for  any  cooking !  "  she  said,  as 
the  drug  taste  left  some  impalpable  tang  on  her  palate, 
and  she  rose  and  went  over  to  the  stove,  renewing  the 
oil  in  its  tank. 

Then  she  stood  above  its  heavy  gush  of  heat,  while 
Thurley,  watching  with  blazing  eyes,  presently  remem- 
bered that  she  must  seem  to  droop  and  sink  into  sleep 
as  before. 

She  began  the  symptoms  against  which  the  previous 
evening  she  had  struggled  helplessly.  Zagorsky,  at- 
tributing her  sense  of  comfort  to  the  warmth  of  the 
stove  and  dinner,  crossed  to  the  door,  bolted  it  fast, 
and  returned  to  the  ruby  glare  so  impotent  to  dissipate 
the  cold. 

She  was  watching  her  captive  narrowly,  a  thing  that 
Thurley  felt.  Rising,  Thurley  shook  herself,  rubbed 
at  her  eyes,  and  briskly  chafed  her  hands.  She  stag- 
gered a  little  where  she  stood,  winking  her  eyes  in  the 
heavy  manner  compelled  by  the  drug  before.  Back  to 
the  bed  she  sank,  maintaining  all  her  show  of  drowsiness, 


290  THURLEY  RUXTON 

and  at  length  was  prostrate  on  the  pillow,  her  whole 
tingling  being  startlingly  awake  and  trembling  with 
suppressed  excitement. 

The  drug  worked  slowly  on  Zagorsky.  Sleep  always 
came  to  her  reluctantly  and  remained  overlong,  the 
morning  hours  invariably  increasing  her  torpor.  Nev- 
ertheless, her  feeling  of  placid  contentment  now  rose 
and  engulfed  her  lurid  brain.  She  sat  in  a  chair  be- 
side the  stove,  somewhat  exulting  in  the  thought  of  a 
good  night's  rest  ahead. 

She  nodded  there,  her  sense  of  peace  possessing  all 
her  body.  Dimly  she  thought  of  nine  o'clock  and  of 
work  to  be  done  by  Jan  and  the  others,  when  the  trap 
should  close  its  jaws.  What  need  to  bother  herself? 
When  that  was  done,  the  rest  could  follow  quickly. 
And  then,  if  a  flight  by  darkness  seemed  advisable,  a 
bit  of  sleep  to  start  on  would  be  well. 

She  rose,  by  making  an  effort,  and  moved  across  to 
her  bed.  An  hour,  at  the  most,  she  might  nap  serenely, 
and  then  —  and  then  —  She  dropped  herself  down, 
or,  rather,  drooped,  possessed  of  a  sudden  with  a  wild 
suspicion  that  something  might  be  wrong.  A  flash  of 
vivid,  glaring  light  was  seared  across  a  portion  of  her 
brain.  Like  a  lightning  stroke  that  fails  to  reach  the 
earth,  the  zigzag  halted  in  the  dullness,  shutting  out 
her  intellect  and  faded  on  her  night. 

She  tried  to  rise,  to  cry  to  the  men  —  who  were  gone, 
as  she  dully  remembered.  She  could  neither  lift  the 
leaden  mass  of  her  shoulders  and  weighted  skull,  nor  ut- 
ter forth  more  than  a  gurgle.  The  sound  she  made 
was  terrible  to  Thurley,  lying  there  quivering  with  life. 
It  was  such  an  animal,  savage  sound,  as  of  some  wild 
beast  that  struggled  with  suffocating  death. 


THE  ONE  WEAK  LINK  291 

Expecting  almost  that  the  creature  would  come, 
staggering  possibly,  but  horribly  vital  and  stubbornly 
active  in  her  sinister  intent,  Thurley  dared  not  move 
and  dared  not  remain,  and  held  her  breath  in  fearful 
alarm,  as  she  listened  to  hear  the  lightest  tread. 

It  did  not  come.  Zagorsky  was  down,  her  brain  like 
a  blackened  frame,  where  fireworks,  having  expended 
their  flare,  die  suddenly,  with  here  and  there  a  streak 
or  a  star  of  unattached  and  meaningless  red,  glowing 
vividly  a  moment  on  the  velvet  gloom  that  its  previous 
brilliance  has  intensified.  She  was  still  awake,  in  a 
manner,  sinking  as  one  who  drowns  but  is  not  yet  wholly 
unconscious.  Then  oblivion  claimed  her  for  its  own. 

It  was  not  until  nearly  half  an  hour  later,  when  the 
woman  was  breathing  with  the  stentorious  gasps  and 
irregular  percussions  of  a  gasolene  engine,  that  Thur- 
ley dared  to  move.  She  rose  then  cautiously,  glancing 
at  once  toward  the  inert  mass  the  woman  had  become. 
The  house  was  still;  the  silence,  save  for  Zagorsky's 
breathing,  was  intense. 

Thurley  went  to  the  lamp  and  turned  it  low,  then 
crept  to  the  window  and  tried  to  peer  through  the  snow- 
lighted  darkness  of  the  night.  There  was  nothing  to 
be  seen.  She  had  no  means  of  determining  the  time; 
but  felt  it  must  be  fully  nine  o'clock,  when  perhaps  de- 
liverance should  come. 

Once  more,  at  that,  the  clear  bright  light  of  her  rea- 
son was  cast  illumingly  upon  the  facts.  Pelevin  was  a 
proved  liar.  The  coffee  he  had  promised  should  be 
harmless  had  been  obviously  drugged.  Undoubtedly 
all  his  sympathy  and  loyalty  had  been  a  sham. 

New  forms  of  suspicion  and  dread  rose  before  her 
vision,  as  she  thought  of  the  uses  to  which  her  note  to 


THURLEY  RUXTON 

Robley  might  be  put.  She  was  terrified  anew  by  the 
murky  conception  of  some  hideous  network  of  du- 
plicity and  crime,  with  its  meshes  about  her,  vouchsafed 
to  her  vividly  working  mind. 

She  must  save  herself,  she  realized,  or  the  blackest  of 
fates  would  doubtless  be  her  portion.  Alone  with  the 
silence  and  the  sodden  woman,  laboring  in  her  sleep, 
she  stood  undecided,  overwhelmed  for  a  moment  with  a 
half-clear  glimpse  into  things  appallingly  obscure. 
Doubts  as  to  where  she  really  was  assailed  her,  to- 
gether with  consuming  fear  of  the  creatures  heard  at 
times  below. 

But  to  leave  this  house  without  the  slightest  un- 
necessary delay  was  the  first  demand  of  action.  Quietly, 
furtively,  she  glided  toward  the  bed,  catching  up  the 
iron  chain  that  bound  her  like  a  slave.  Her  hand  ran 
past  the  wire  link,  in  her  trembling  anxiety  for  haste. 
Then  she  found  it  and,  moving  it  to  the  metal  edge 
employed  in  the  afternoon,  bent  the  twisted  strands 
upon  it  and  began  to  force  them  down  and  up  by  the 
feeble  glow  of  the  lamp. 

It  seemed  as  if  they  would  never  snap,  so  tough  was 
their  substance,  so  soft  her  hands,  and  so  great  was 
her  fear  of  creating  a  noise  that  would  rouse  Zagorsky 
from  her  sleep.  In  feverish  desperation  she  strained 
at  the  wire,  and  was  torn  through  the  skin  of  her  fin- 
ger. Her  hand  was  presently  reddened  from  the 
wound;  but  she  worked  more  hotly  than  before.  The 
wire  gave  way! 

Excitedly  assailing  the  bright  tipped  strand,  she 
pushed  it  and  drove  it  back  through  the  link  that  it 
coupled  to  a  mate,  finding  it  harsh  and  resisting  to  her 
efforts.  Her  hands  were  stabbed  and  cut  anew;  but 


THE  ONE  WEAK  LINK  293 

the  loosened  ends  were  forced  to  yield,  till  presently 
the  chain  was  parted  and  an  end  fell  down  and  struck 
the  floor  sharply. 

Thurley  could  have  moaned.  Zagorsky  started  in 
her  slumber,  some  of  her  stubborn  instincts  of  suspi- 
cion and  watchfulness  responding  automatically  to  the 
noise  the  chain  had  made. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

A  DESPERATE  FLIGHT 

SCARCELY  daring  to  breathe,  facing  the  door  with  di- 
lated eyes,  and  expecting  an  almost  immediate  demand 
for  admission  to  the  room  by  some  of  the  men,  Thur- 
ley  stood  holding  one  end  of  the  chain  like  a  goddess 
released  from  bondage.  She  was  almost  prepared  for 
a  fight  for  her  life,  had  the  moment  demanded  a  fierce 
and  desperate  stand. 

But  nothing  happened.  Her  color,  having  fled,  crept 
back  once  more,  as  her  fever  and  hope  burned  anew. 
She  was  free  in  part;  she  must  take  advantage  of  her 
moment. 

The  window  was  her  only  concern.  To  attempt  es- 
cape by  the  stairs  and  door  was  a  thought  far  too 
frightening  for  a  moment's  entertainment.  She  was 
certain  that  some,  if  not  all  of  the  men,  were  below  in 
their  usual  quarters. 

The  room  afforded  nothing  in  the  nature  of  a  rope. 
She  knew  from  her  former  examination  that  the  window 
was  far  too  high  from  the  frozen  ground  and  snow  for 
a  leap,  or  even  a  drop.  She  had  heard  of  captives 
tearing  the  sheets  of  a  bed  to  form  an  escaping  strand. 

Wrapping  half  of  the  chain  about  her  waist  and  se- 
curing the  end  with  the  wire,  she  tumbled  the  bed 
clothes  over  wildly,  to  find  there  were  no  sheets.  She 
remembered  the  fact,  for  a  moment  forgotten  in  excite- 

294 


A  DESPERATE  FLIGHT  295 

ment.  But  two  of  the  blankets  were  old.  She  dragged 
them  out  and  attempted  to  part  them  with  her  hands. 
The  hems  at  the  ends  resisted  stubbornly.  She  bit  at 
and  tore  them  with  her  teeth.  Once  they  were  severed, 
she  made  headway  faster,  using  jaws  and  hands  to- 
gether. The  blankets  were  torn  into  three  strips  each ; 
then  she  knotted  their  ends  together. 

Zagorsky  stirred  and  partially  rose,  goaded  by  some 
latent  force  that  frequently  possessed  her  in  her  sleep, 
rousing  her  even  to  walking.  "  Pelevin ! "  she  said, 
apparently  staring  at  Thurley. 

In  sickening  fright  the  girl  let  fall  her  strips  of  cloth, 
as  the  woman  sank  back  in  her  bed. 

Cold  moisture  broke  on  Thurley's  brow.  Her  heart 
throbbed  like  an  engine  in  her  breast.  It  seemed  as  if 
the  horrid  inefficiency  of  a  nightmare  numbed  and  par- 
alyzed her  actions.  Yet  she  soon  resumed  her  task. 
Fear  had  electrified  her  ingenuity,  as  courage  had 
steeled  her  nerves. 

She  tied  her  "  rope  "  to  the  table  leg  that  was  near- 
est the  window,  at  last,  and  slightly  raised  the  sash,  to 
drop  the  end.  The  window  came  down  again  imme- 
diately, its  loose  old  skeleton  rattling  in  the  frame. 
Once  more  its  noise  awoke  the  peal  of  alarms  in  Thur- 
ley's bosom.  A  gush  of  the  wintry  air,  sweeping  in, 
had  struck  like  a  zone  of  chill  across  her  heated  body. 

She  glanced  about,  aware  she  should  need  protection 
from  the  night  and  its  wind  and  snow.  The  gray  old 
cloak  was  on  the  bed.  She  caught  it  up  and  put  it  on, 
when  a  crack  and  a  thump  on  the  stairs  below  made 
her  gasp  and  start  with  dread. 

She  stood  there  trembling,  suppressing  her  breath, 
and  pressing  both  hands  above  her  heart  as  if  to  stifle 


296  THURLEY  RUXTON 

its  clamor.  Again  all  was  still.  She  thought  of  the 
lamp,  and  blew  it  out  as  a  measure  of  precaution. 
Groping  her  way  to  the  window  again,  she  thrust  aside 
the  curtains,  raised  the  sash,  and  put  out  her  foot  to 
crawl  out  backward,  her  one  hand  closed  in  frantic  grip 
upon  her  strand  of  wool. 

A  horrible  voice  abruptly  broke  the  silence  —  Za- 
gorsky  talking  in  her  unsurrendered  restlessness  of 
spirit. 

"  You,  Jan,  shall  strike  the  blow !  "  A  fearful  gur- 
gle spluttered  in  her  throat.  She  rose  from  the  bed, 
as  Thurley  could  hear,  and  floundered  about  the  room. 

Unable  to  endure  the  frightening  thoughts  that  sud- 
denly swooped  upon  her,  Thurley  supported  the  sash 
on  her  shoulder,  dropped  backward  from  the  sill,  and 
was  suddenly  out  in  the  clean-smelling  cold,  swaying 
twenty  feet  up  from  the  ground. 

The  window  had  closed  behind  her,  falling  with  its 
rattle  to  the  cushion  of  wool  where  the  blanket  lay 
across  the  frame.  Down,  down  slipped  Thurley,  nearly 
thrust  from  her  hold  when  a  knot  in  the  strand  was  en- 
countered. Her  hands  were  all  but  scorched  by  the 
"  rope  "  as  the  last  few  feet  slid  through  her  tender 
palms,  then  she  landed  on  and  fell  to  the  earth. 

Up  in  an  instant,  unhurt  and  remarkably  revived  in 
strength  and  nerve  by  the  tonic  of  the  air,  she  paused 
for  a  moment  to  glance  about  and  listen,  before  she 
moved. 

The  entire  side  of  the  building  was  dark.  Not  a 
gleam  of  light  was  revealed  from  a  single  window. 
There  was  not  a  sound  in  all  the  world,  it  seemed,  nor 
a  sign  of  other  houses.  A  few  stars  gleamed  in  wells 
of  vast  profundity,  between  huge  masses  of  cloud.  The 


A  DESPERATE  FLIGHT  297 

great  brazen  dipper  blazed  heatlessly,  as  it  swung 
about  the  Polar  star,  immovably  studded  in  the  north. 

It  seemed  to  Thurley  like  a  guidance  divine  as  she 
recognized  this  mighty  constellation.  It  told  her 
the  way  to  go.  The  village  of  North  Winog,  she 
thought,  must  be  barely  a  mile  to  the  west.  She  did 
not  know  the  abandoned  mill  was  not  this  structure 
she  was  quitting,  but  was  miles  away  in  the  opposite 
direction.  Raising  the  cloak  which  would  have  dragged 
and  caught  under  her  feet,  she  faced  the  wind  that  had 
blown  all  day  across  the  wintry  continent,  and  was 
presently  plunging  through  dry  drifts  of  snow  and 
over  barren  earth,  too  hard  to  receive  her  tracks.  The 
wind  sent  scud  where  the  drifts  were  piled,  and  this 
filled  in  the  imprints  of  her  shoes,  and  so  concealed  her 
trail. 

She  glanced  behind,  as  she  hastened  on ;  but  neither 
a  shout  nor  a  ray  of  light  did  the  somber  old  hovel  sur- 
render. 

Nevertheless,  she  felt  pursued,  a  haunting  sense  of 
her  insecurity  peopling  every  shadow  with  a  sinister 
form,  about  to  leap  out  and  retake  her.  She  pres- 
entlv  ran,  as  increasing  distance  from  the  house  made 
the  echo  of  footsteps  far  too  faint  to  travel  back  and 
betray  the  fact  that  she  was  gone. 

She  came  to  a  fence  and  clambered  through,  tearing 
the  cloak,  which  she  held  as  close  as  possible  about  her 
chest,  where  the  wind  sought  the  thinness  of  her  gar- 
ments. For  the  very  first  time  since  the  moment  of 
entering  Edith's  room,  she  missed  her  furs,  her  muff 
and  scarf,  which  Zagorsky  must  have  taken. 

They  did  not  matter.  Nothing  mattered  now  but 
escape,  to  achieve  the  village  and  beg  for  protection 


298  THURLEY  RUXTON 

and  shelter  from  the  first  warm  home  she  should  find. 
Running  and  walking,  feverishly  pushing  forward,  she 
took  no  heed  of  distance  or  the  roughness  of  the  field 
where  she  was  traveling.  She  felt  a  glow  of  warmth 
and  life  responding  to  her  rapid  locomotion.  And  at 
last  she  came  upon  a  road. 

It  led  apparently  westward;  doubtless,  she  thought, 
to  the  village  she  was  seeking.  Perhaps  North  Winog 
was  now  no  more  than  half  a  mile  away  —  and  still 
no  sign  of  pursuers  in  the  rear. 

It  was  a  strange  still  world  of  gray  and  black,  with 
skeleton  trees  against  the  restless  sky,  and  huge  abysses 
of  shadow  in  the  far-off  woods,  and  lakes  of  dull  snow 
in  the  meadows.  It  was  frozen  to  lifelessness,  stilled  to 
the  silence  of  death. 

Thurley  went  on.  It  seemed  endless,  this  road,  and 
its  course  was  altered,  at  a  curve  here  and  there,  till 
directions  were  all  confused.  Dark  clouds  had  blotted 
out  the  stars,  and  from  time  to  time  a  flurry  of  snow 
was  driven  fiercely  earthward  on  the  wind. 

Thurley  was  certain  she  had  come  a  mile  at  the  end 
of  half  an  hour  of  ceaseless  hurry.  She  had  gone 
more  nearly  two  —  and  by  then  was  six  from  the  near- 
est town  and  leaving  it  farther  behind.  She  had  noth- 
ing by  way  of  plan,  save  to  go  and  go  till  she  came  to 
North  Winog.  She  had  slowed  to  a  steady,  active 
gait!  but  doubts  were  beginning  in  her  mind. 

An  hour  out,  she  halted,  glancing  about  her  in  be- 
wilderment, wondering  whither  she  had  come.  Long 
before  this,  -as  she  felt  convinced,  the  village  should 
have  been  encountered.  A  realizing  sense  that  she  must 
have  chosen  the  wrong  direction  came  discouragingly 
upon  her. 


A  DESPERATE  FLIGHT  299 

She  dared  not  return  and  so  approach  the  house  from 
which  she  had  escaped ;  she  felt  a  little  weariness  and  a 
dread  of  being  lost.  The  chill  of  the  breeze  would  not 
permit  long  halting  in  the  road.  She  must  go,  and 
keep  on  going,  she  knew  —  but  where? 

"  I  shall  come  to  something  finally,"  she  told  her- 
self in  bravery;  and  onward  she  trudged  as  before. 

At  midnight  she  was  all  but  exhausted.  The  chain 
about  her  waist  was  cold  and  heavy.  A  new  despair 
was  at  her  heart.  To  go  on  all  night  was  hardly  pos- 
sible ;  to  sink  by  the  road,  in  such  a  bitter  atmosphere, 
would  mean  to  perish  long  before  dawn.  She  felt 
the  road  must  terminate  at  last  at  a  farm,  if  nothing 
more.  Anything  now  as  a  shelter  from  the  wind  would 
be  as  a  haven  of  rest.  The  snow  was  deeper  in  the 
road,  and  her  feet  were  heavy  with  its  weight  and  con- 
stant retarding. 

She  went  on  and  on  —  it  seemed  to  her  a  time  that 
was  never  to  end.  It  was  nearly  one  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  with  the  wind  assuming  a  colder,  brisker 
search  of  all  the  land,  when  out  of  the  darkness  loomed 
the  low,  squat  form  of  a  shed  or  outbuilding,  standing 
by  the  road. 

A  note  of  gladness  escaped  the  girl  as  she  prodded 
her  lagging  limbs  to  vigorous  effort.  She  was  cer- 
tain of  a  house  which  should  be  near  at  hand.  And 
her  theory  was  right.  There  had  been  a  dwelling, 
once,  at  the  place,  and  its  ruins  were  there  when  she 
came  to  the  site  —  the  mute,  gaunt  bones  of  a  structure, 
consumed  in  the  autumn  by  fire. 

Thurley  could  have  wept,  from  weariness  and  disap- 
pointment. She  stumbled  back  to  the  shedlike  build- 
ing, once  a  blacksmith  shop,  effected  an  entrance 


300  THURLEY  RUXTON 

where  a  board  was  torn  away,  and,  sinking  down 
where  a  few  old  shavings  had  escaped  the  pencils  of 
snow,  flung  in  at  gaping  cracks,  she  sheltered  herself 
as  best  she  might,  in  a  broken  box  beneath  a  work- 
man's bench  —  and  was  thankful  to  God  for  rest. 


CHAPTER  XL 

A   NIGHT   OF   TOIL 

ALICE  VAN  KIRK  on  Sunday  afternoon  felt  as  if  the 
suspense  and  strain  of  uncertainty  would  completely 
break  her  down.  The  morning  had  been  sufficiently 
insupportable.  She  had  hardly  slept  all  night,  and, 
with  Stuyverant  reporting  no  progress  after  ten 
o'clock,  her  cup  of  anguish  had  seemed  full  to  over- 
flowing. But  the  afternoon,  as  mockingly  barren  of 
news  or  hope  as  any  hours  already  endured,  brought 
calls  and  callers  innumerable,  with  inquiries  as  to  Thur- 
ley's  health,  invitations  for  the  week  forthcoming,  and 
astonishment  and  curiosity  on  the  part  of  those  who 
discovered  by  personal  attendance  at  the  mansion  that 
Thurley  was  away. 

Alice  had  not  revealed  the  truth  to  anyone  save  Rob- 
ley  and  the  Baron.  She  feared  and  dreaded  the  ru- 
mors and  gossip,  the  exaggerated  tales,  and  the  ines- 
capable suspicions  that  knowledge  of  the  "  Princess' ' 
disappearance  would  immediately  engender.  Never- 
theless to  maintain  a  smiling  composure  and  to  parry 
insidious  queries  was  taxing  the  utmost  of  her  ingenuity 
and  all  but  driving  her  distracted. 

Major  Phipps,  who  had  been  away,  recuperating 
from  his  literary  labors  for  several  weeks,  was  one  of 
the  callers.  He  came  with  Kelsey  Woods,  and  was  an- 
noyingly  insistent  in  his  probing  as  to  Thurley,  her 
whereabouts  and  prospects.  Willie  Stetson,  with 

301 


302  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

twenty  different  bunches  of  flowers  for  Thurley  to  ac- 
cept or  reject,  but  to  exercise  her  wholly  untrammeled 
choice  upon,  was  early  on  the  scene.  Algy  Dearborn 
brought  a  brand  new  limerick.  Captain  Fowler  and 
Beau  Brymmer  of  the  Diplomatic  service  arrived  al- 
most together. 

Lady  Honore  Calthorp  and  Count  Fiaschi  came  to- 
gether, as  they  had  on  a  number  of  occasions.  Gail- 
lard  came  later,  with  floral  contributions,  and  by  great 
good  fortune  did  not  collide  with  the  Count. 

Fiaschi  was  sufficiently  persistent  in  his  reiterated 
desire  to  be  made  acquainted  at  once  with  Thur- 
ley's  whereabouts.  He  cornered  Alice  by  herself,  at  a 
moment  when  the  others  were  engaged  in  a  mild  debate 
on  woman  suffrage,  and  repeated  his  wishes  anew. 

"  It  is  not  that  I  shall  be  considered  as  one  of  the 
limpid  others,"  he  explained.  "  My  nature  is  one  of 
fire  and  action  —  ah !  so  impatient  to-  move,  to  sur- 
round! Miss  Thurley  herself  understands.  She 
would  wish  it  for  me  to  be  informed  where  she  is,  what 
she  does  away  from  her  home,  where  I  shall  send  my 
eager  thoughts  to  remind  her  of  the  pleasant  times 
whenever  we  have  met !  " 

"  I  quite  understand,"  said  Alice,  distraught  by  her 
haunting  fears.  "  If  I  were  to  tell  you,  Count  Fiaschi, 
that  she  is  far  away  and  in  peril,  what  would  your  fire 
and  action  do  ?  " 

He  grinned.  "  I  should  be  aware,  dear  lady,  that 
you  are  a  humorous  people,  you  Americans.  I  shall 
wait.  She  must  presently  return.  My  longing  shall 
bring  her  back !  " 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Alice ;  "  but  I  would  pray  God  to 
send  her  a  humorous  American  man  with  a  good 


A  NIGHT  OF  TOIL  303 

strong  arm  and  fearless  heart  —  no  hothouse  absent 
treatment!"  She  rose  and  joined  the  others  rest- 
lessly, her  feeling  one  of  negative  guilt,  that  she  talked 
and  smiled  with  guests  like  these  and  did  nothing  at  all 
for  Thurley. 

She  was  glad  when  they  went,  particularly  glad  to 
be  rid  of  the  glib  Fiaschi  —  shamelessly  boasting  of 
the  heat  of  his  heart  that  she  knew  to  be  colder  than 
brass. 

But  if  the  Count  was  insistent,  Gaillard  was  fairly 
intolerable.  The  man  was  at  the  brink  of  ruin.  His 
nerves  were  as  brittle  as  glass.  He  was  pale,  irritable, 
strung  taut  as  a  rope  between  two  twisting  screws. 
Fiaschi  had  crowded  him  fairly  to  the  edge  —  and  he 
felt  already  that  the  slightest  push  must  hurl  him 
downward  to  the  pit. 

Someway,  in  his  desperate  plight,  he  felt  the  neces- 
sity for  Thurley  Ruxton,  a  someone  of  the  other  days, 
to  whom  to  open  the  gates  of  his  soul  and  relieve  the 
pressure  within.  She  had  not  replied  to  his  letter, 
that  note  amounting  to  a  curt  demand  that  she  permit 
him  to  announce  their  engagement.  Irrationally  he 
told  himself  that  if  she  had  only  sent  him  word,  definite 
word,  even  a  negative  reply,  the  entire  fabric  of  his 
luck  must  have  undergone  a  transformation. 

He  was  not  prepared  to  accept  her  no  for  his  answer. 
To-day,  however,  it  was  anything  to  find  her,  and  per- 
haps compel  her  to  consent  to  be  his  wife.  He  felt  it 
would  conquer  Fiaschi.  To  discover  that  she  was  ab- 
sent from  the  scene,  and  to  receive  no  adequate  expla- 
nation of  what  her  absence  meant,  increased  his  annoy- 
ance and  impatience. 

"  See  here !  "  he  said  to  Alice,  in  his  domineering  way, 


304  THURLEY  RUXTON 

the  moment  he  could  snatch  her  away  from  the  others. 
"  We  both  understand  that  my  position  with  Thurley 
is  unlike  that  of  anyone  else.  I've  .a  right  to  know 
where  she's  gone." 

Alice  was  nettled.  "  I  wish  it  were  such  a  right  as 
might  keep  you  better  informed,  more  vitally  in  touch 
with  events,  and  then  perhaps  you  might  assist  instead 
of  goading  me." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  he  demanded.  "  You're 
not  declaring  your  ignorance  as  to  where  she  is  ?  " 

"  And  if  I  were,  what  then?  " 

He  narrowed  his  gaze  upon  her,  countless  suspicions 
flashing  briefly  in  his  brain.  "  You're  sure  she  hasn't 
gone  to  New  Haven?"  he  said.  "It  isn't  some  at- 
tempt to  erase  all  final  traces  of  the  past?  " 

Alice  could  almost  have  slapped  him.  "  Her  past 
with  you  ?  "  she  queried,  as  she  had  on  a  previous  oc- 
casion. "  I  am  sure  there  is  no  occasion  —  Mr.  Gail- 
lard,  if,  as  you  say,  you  occupy  a  peculiar  position 
with  regard  to  Thurley,  what  would  you  think  your 
duty,  should  anything  arise  to  menace  her  happiness, 
her  freedom,  her  life?  v 

She  had  masked  her  intensity  of  feeling,  or,  if  she 
had  not,  Gaillard  failed  to  penetrate  her  thin  veneer  of 
calm.  He  smiled  again,  in  his  mirthless,  sardonic 
manner,  the  manner  of  one  desperate,  no  matter  where 
he  turns. 

"Is  this  some  trap  for  me?"  he  inquired.  "Does 
it  snap,  upon  my  answer  ?  " 

"  It  does,  to  some  extent,  though  my  question  was 
not  intended  as  a  trap — precisely." 

"  May  I  exercise  the  privilege  of  avoiding  the 
trap?  " 

"  You  may  think  the  trap  avoided." 


A  NIGHT  OF  TOIL  305 

He  ceased  to  smile.  "  I  suppose  you  mean  I  am 
trapped,  no  matter  how  I  answer?  " 

Alice  shrugged  her  shoulders.  "  Your  fate  is  of 
your  own  making,  not  of  mine.  Suppose  Thurley 
needed  help?  You  claim  you  occupy  a  special  posi- 
tion in  her  destiny.  How  far  would  you  be  willing  to 
go,  what  would  you  sacrifice  to  find  her  and  give  her  as- 
sistance? " 

Gaillard  wondered  if  perchance  the  game  was  over 
and  Thurley  sent  away;  whether  Alice  Van  Kirk  had 
begun  to  fear  detection  of  their  game  and  had  brought 
it  to  a  sudden  termination.  His  attitude  was  altered 
by  the  thought,  so  lightly  did  his  weather  vane  respond 
to  a  zephyr  of  change. 

"  If  she's  out  of  town,"  he  replied,  "  I'd  do  what  I 
could ;  do  anything  in  reason  except,  of  course,  to 
leave  the  city  just  at  present.  God  knows  my  whole 
career  may  depend  on  my  being  here  now  every 
minute ! " 

"  Exactly,"  said  Alice,  and  that  was  her  final  word 
with  the  man,  but  not  her  final  disgust. 

She  sounded  nearly  every  man  who  had  hung  on 
Thurley's  words  and  moves,  while  flowers  and  speeches 
were  the  price.  There  was  none  in  them  all,  she  felt 
convinced,  with  the  manhood,  the  courage,  and  the  self 
denial  to  risk  his  comfort,  far  less  risk  his  life,  should 
the  "  Princess  "  require  such  sacrifice  to  defend  her, 
perhaps  from  death. 

In  the  final  analysis  not  a  few  regarded  Thurley 
as  already  the  prize,  and  therefore  the  charge,  of  the 
young  Grand  Duke  Karl-Wilhelm.  They  would  gladly 
flirt  with  his  affianced  bride;  but  her  dangers  were  all 
for  him. 

It  was  late  when  Stuyverant  'phoned  at  last  that  a 


306  THURLEY  RUXTON 

faint  star  of  hope  had  risen.  His  message  was  brief 
and  excited,  the  merest  statement  that  a  hint  had  ar- 
rived at  the  Baron's  headquarters  and  that  anything 
further  that  might  develop  would  be  'phoned  in  later 
on.  He  was  going,  Robley  added,  to  a  place  far  out 
from  Manhattan,  to  investigate  a  vague  report  that 
might  prove  utterly  groundless.  It  was  something  at 
least  on  which  to  act,  and  midnight  would  tell  the 
tale. 

To  all  of  Alice's  eager  questions  he  returned  the 
vaguest  of  answers,  presently  hanging  up  the  'phone. 
If  disappointment  lurked  beyond,  he  preferred  to  ac- 
cept its  brunt  himself  and  not  raise  beaming  expecta- 
tions, to  dash  them  later  in  the  night. 

It  was  late  when  he  started  in  his  car,  with  his  man 
in  the  driver's  seat.  He  had  ascertained  that  no  rail- 
road trains  ran  nearer  than  fifteen  miles  or  more  to  the 
west  of  North  Winog.  He  was  dressed  in  furs  which 
differed  but  slightly  from  those  of  his  mechanician. 
Wolfskin  robes  were  heaped  in  the  tonneau's  hold, 
should  occasion  arise  for  their  use. 

Their  lamps  were  lighted  on  the  ferryboat.  Half 
an  hour  later,  with  nearly  four  clear  hours  ahead  of 
them  in  which  to  cover  a  distance  calculated  at  some- 
thing under  seventy  miles,  the  car  was  going  like  a 
huge  projectile  over  roads  hard  as  flint. 

The  darkness  descended  swiftly.  The  night  was 
moonless ;  but  the  film  of  snow  that  lay  on  all  that  life- 
less world  reflected  the  dim  refulgence  of  the  heavens, 
clearly  defining  the  pike.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of 
the  distance  the  big  dark  device  of  modern  power  and 
velocity  shot  through  villages,  past  fields,  and  over 
bridges  like  a  thing  made  glad  by  its  own  sheer  might 


A  NIGHT  OF  TOIL  307 

and  perfection.  Then,  it  blew  out  a  tire,  and  a  long, 
heart  racking  siege  of  disasters  had  been  ushered  in,  as 
if  at  the  beckoning  of  Fate. 

A  cylinder  began  to  miss,  almost  upon  the  resumption 
of  the  journey.  For  fully  an  hour  both  Stuyverant 
and  his  man  sought  vainly  to  locate  the  trouble.  When 
they  came  upon  it  finally  they  found  it  somewhat  se- 
rious, a  valve  rod  sticking  every  other  minute,  and  then 
for  a  time  running  normally.  Filing  and  oiling  aided 
materially;  but  the  lost  minutes  were  totaling  fast. 

When  once  he  could  drive  ahead  again,  the  chauffeur 
urged  such  terrific  speed  that  wreckage  was  constantly 
threatened.  One  violent  maneuver  resulting  from  this 
recklessness  stripped  out  the  gears  of  the  intermediate 
speed.  A  battery  connection,  shaken  loose,  brought 
on  a  recurrence  of  the  missing  —  for  which  the  valve 
rod  was  for  long  mistakenly  attacked. 

One  crushing,  delaying  complication  after  another 
arose.  The  great  machine,  now  racing,  now  barely 
toiling  in  the  highway,  performed  every  known  de- 
pravity of  steel  and  spark  and  gasolene.  Another  tire 
went  the  way  of  ruin.  Impatiently,  wildly,  Stuy- 
verant strove  to  redeem  lost  time ;  but  in  vain.  It  was 
one  interminable  series  of  delays,  repairs,  and  exhaust- 
ing efforts  to  keep  the  machine  on  its  legs. 

Eight  o'clock  found  them  far  from  anywhere,  with 
forty  miles  to  go.  Calamity  overtook  them  almost 
while  they  reckoned  that,  with  luck,  they  would  still  be 
late  no  more  than  half  an  hour. 

At  nine  they  were  down  and  out  again,  Stuyverant 
groaning  in  vain.  He  had  looked  at  his  watch  a  hun- 
dred times,  and  now,  with  more  than  thirty  miles  to 
travel,  was  sweating  in  the  frozen  wind,  to  think  of 


308  THURLEY  RUXTON 

what  might  be  happening  where  Thurley  waited,  peer- 
ing through  the  night  for  the  help  that  could  not  ar- 
rive. 

How  they  limped  along  toward  North  Winog,  Rob- 
ley  could  never  have  told.  It  seemed  a  veritable  night- 
mare of  helplessness,  wherein  he  struggled  furiously  to 
get  ahead,  only  to  be  baffled,  hindered,  stalled,  by  things 
intangible  that  may  not  be  engaged  and  overcome. 

It  was  midnight  and  past  when  they  came  at  last  to 
the  village.  They  had  gone  astray  from  the  road, 
among  their  other  accidents,  and  expended  an  hour 
getting  back.  The  little  settlement  in  which  they 
found  themselves  at  last  seemed  part  of  the  frozen 
world.  Not  a  light  was  shown  from  any  house,  where 
all  appeared  like  spectral  things,  merely  mockeries  of 
men's  abodes,  with  glassy  eyes  lifelessly  staring. 

Leaving  his  man  in  charge  of  the  car,  Stuyverant 
hastened  off  at  once  to  find  the  abandoned  mill.  He 
came  there  at  last,  discovering  an  empty  old  ruin 
through  which  the  wind  was  howling  dismally.  Armed 
as  he  was,  he  nevertheless  approached  it  with  caution, 
only  to  ascertain  that  a  burial  place  would  exhibit 
more  cheer  and  life. 

He  knew  that  if  Thurley  had  been  here  at  all  she 
had  long  since  gone  away.  Bitterness,  self  accusation, 
and  impotent  bickerings  at  fates  and  accidents  con- 
sumed him  there  in  the  wind.  It  seemed  so  utterly 
puerile  to  have  come  for  this,  and  be  obliged  to  turn 
about  and  return  the  way  he  had  traveled,  crowned 
with  defeat  and  disappointment. 

There  was  nothing  about  the  structure  to  give  him 
the  slightest  guidance,  or  a  hint  as  to  what  he  should 
do.  He  could  only  turn  disgustedly  away,  reviling 


A  NIGHT  OF  TOIL  309 

himself  for  failure  in  Thurley's  hour  of  need,  and  face 
the  cold  and  desolation  between  himself  and  his  car. 

Harassed,  even  tortured  by  worry  and  apprehen- 
sion as  to  what  his  delinquency  might  have  involved, 
he  could  only  wonder  vaguely  how  possible  to  serve 
the  "  Princess  "  now.  He  could  think  of  one  thing 
only  —  remain  for  the  night  at  North  Winog  and  by 
search  and  inquiry,  early  in  the  morning,  redeem  a  lit- 
tle of  his  effort. 

He  came  to  the  village  street  some  distance  from  his 
car.  Up  the  road  he  went,  as  rapidly  as  possible, 
wondering  soon  if  his  man  had  curled  himself  down  in 
the  furs  to  keep  himself  warm  as  he  waited.  He  had 
rather  expected  the  man  to  be  walking  about  in  the 
road,  warming  himself  by  motion. 

"  Banks !  "  he  called,  as  he  came  in  speaking  distance ; 
but  no  reply  was  returned. 

He  came  to  the  car,  glanced  in  at  the  tonneau,  dis- 
covered it  empty  of  anything  save  the  furs,  and  was 
passing  along  to  the  front  of  the  hood  when  he  all  but 
fell  over  his  man. 

He  was  lying  loosely  crumpled  in  the  road,  his  hat  a 
little  thrown  aside,  his  face  marble  white  on  the  snow. 

"  Banks  !  "  cried  Stuyverant,  kneeling  down  ;  but  the 
man,  unconscious,  left  there  for  dead  by  Pelevin  and 
Max,  returning  from  their  long  cold  wait  at  the  mill, 
neither  heard  nor  felt  nor  moved. 


CHAPTER  XLI 

THE  GOLD  OF  MORNING 

IT  was  not  till  an  hour  afterward,  with  the  village 
astir  and  the  neighborhood  agog,  that  Stuyverant 
paused  for  a  moment  to  wonder  why  his  chauffeur  had 
been  attacked.  He  was  unaware  that  Banks,  in  the 
night's  dim  starlight,  resembled  the  Grand  Duke  Karl 
somewhat  strikingly. 

The  task  of  dragging  and  carrying  Banks  to  a  house, 
arousing  the  inmates,  and  inducing  the  frightened  men 
and  hysterical  women  of  the  immediate  vicinity  to  help 
him  save  his  mechanician's  life,  had  occupied  all  his 
strength  and  thought. 

Underlying  all  of  this  was  a  dull  but  throbbing  con- 
sciousness that  Thurley  was  somewhere,  near  or  far, 
disappointed,  —  if  alive,  —  and  doubtless  in  the  hands 
of  assassins  allied  with  those  who  must  have  beaten 
Banks.  It  was  never  possible,  for  even  the  part  of  a 
second,  to  forget  that  the  "  Princess  "  had  called  him, 
sent  him  her  brief  appeal,  expected  him  here,  or  some- 
where, at  the  fateful  hour  of  nine. 

He  felt  that  now,  in  the  hours  left  of  a  long  disas- 
trous night,  he  should  be  in  his  car,  driving  hither  and 
yon  —  moving —  moving  —  doing  something  definite  - 
something  to  find  her  and  help  her !  He  groaned  at  the 
necessity  of  serving  Banks,  while  neglecting  Thurley, 
though  the  loyal  impulse  of  his  nature  urged  him  readily 
to  give  all  he  could  to  his  man. 

310 


THE  GOLD  OF  MORNING  311 

Banks  had  sustained  a  frightful  blow  on  the  skull. 
That  the  arch  of  bone  had  not  been  more  severely  frafr- 
tured  or  even  crumpled  inward  was  a  miracle,  due  per- 
haps to  the  thickness  of  his  hair.  He  had  not  revived 
till  nearly  three  in  the  morning,  and  then  for  a  moment 
only.  A  local  physician,  summoned  tardily,  had  ex- 
hausted himself  and  his  resources  early,  while  the  minis- 
trations of  the  women  served  to  better  purpose. 

It  was  daylight,  and  Stuyverant  was  still  tirelessly 
assisting  and  directing  operations,  when  his  man  at 
length  gave  assurance  of  assuming  his  normal  function- 
ing, so  suddenly  interrupted  and  so  near  its  termination. 
The  man,  however,  would  be  too  ill  and  weak  to  be 
moved  for  several  days.  The  name  of  a  skillful  woman 
nurse  was  supplied,  in  answer  to  Stuyverant's  demands. 
She  lived  in  a  larger  village  twenty  miles  away,  whither 
no  one  could  go  in  a  hurry.  There  was  no  alternative, 
as  Robley  knew  —  he  must  go  in  his  car,  and  drive  the 
machine  himself. 

He  drank  three  steaming  cups  of  coffee,  thoughtfully 
provided  by  the  one  calm  woman  of  the  house,  and 
started  on  his  way. 

The  sun  arose  in  clouds  and  blue  together,  its  first 
frost  brightened  rays  appearing  to  press  upon  the  earth 
a  colder  wave  of  air.  Far  off  on  a  lonesome,  snow-i 
strewn  road,  Thurley  had  meantime  roused  from  an  in- 
activity which  could  scarcely  be  described  as  sleep.  She 
had  shivered  and  chattered  all  night  in  her  box,  draw- 
ing shavings  and  her  tattered  cloak  about  her  chilling 
limbs  and  shoulders,  and  had  risen  at  times  to  beat  her 
hands,  tramp  up  and  down  the  shop,  and  otherwise 
struggle  with  the  numbing  cold  that  crept  to  the  mar- 
row of  her  bones. 


THURLEY  RUXTON 

The  first  faint  streaks  of  dawn  had  readily  addressed 
her  senses,  alert  for  signs  that  the  night  was  passed, 
since  its  darkness  and  drag  had  seemed  to  be  centuries 
long.  She  had  slipped  from  the  shedlike  structure, 
only  to  find  the  half-dim  world  a  scene  of  chill  and  deso- 
lation. The  wind  had  sought  her  instantly,  as  if  in 
greed  for  a  victim  long  denied.  To  face  the  road  thus 
early  was  utterly  disheartening.  She  was  not  even  sure 
of  the  way  she  had  come.  Back  to  the  darkness  of  the 
partly  sheltered  shop  she  hastened,  to  hunt  in  vain 
for  a  match,  whereby  a  fire  might  be  lighted  in  the 
forge. 

When  at  last  the  sun  put  a  finger  through  a  crack  — 
a  slender,  golden  finger,  cold  but  comforting,  smolder- 
ing hope  took  flame  again  in  the  heart  of  the  weary 
girl.  Her  courage  was  endless.  She  felt  that  if  only 
she  could  find  a  house,  with  any  sort  of  welcome,  in  a 
space  of  twenty  miles,  she  would  walk  and  make  no  com- 
plaint. 

No  sooner  had  she  issued  forth,  however,  and  ascer- 
tained her  right  direction  by  sight  of  the  fire-ruined 
house,  than  all  the  old  fears  of  the  previous  night,  plus 
a  hundred  more,  returned  to  reignite  her  fever.  The 
darkness,  after  all,  had  been  her  friend.  By  the  morn- 
ing's light  those  terrible  men  and  the  frightful  woman 
at  the  house  she  had  quitted  would  soon  be  infesting 
every  road.  They  could  not  long  remain  in  ignorance 
of  her  escape,  if  they  had  not,  indeed,  discovered  her 
absence  early  in  the  night. 

It  seemed  almost  as  if  perhaps  her  greater  safety  lay 
in  remaining  at  the  shop.  Yet  there  they  might  also 
presently  search;  and  there  she  could  starve,  or  perish 
with  cold,  before  she  might  perchance  be  enabled  to  hail 


THE  GOLD  OF  MORNING  313 

some  passing  vehicle  and  beg  for  aid  and  protection. 
And  how  should  she  know  from  whom  to  implore  as- 
sistance, since  of  all  the  men  she  had  heard  at  the  house 
she  had  seen  but  one,  Pelevin? 

She  knew  she  must  simply  hasten  on,  as  fast  as  stiff- 
ened, aching  limbs  could  carry  her  down  the  road.  If 
only  the  chain  about  her  waist  could  be  dropped,  she 
should  feel  such  tremendous  relief!  She  was  powerless, 
however,  to  remove  it,  and  breathlessly  expectant  that 
any  moment  she  might  be  startled  by  a  shout,  as  pursu- 
ing men  espied  and  bore  down  upon  her,  she  faced  the 
bleakness  of  the  lifeless  road  and  trudged  bravely  on- 
ward as  before. 

She  had  certainly  gone  far  less  than  a  mile,  and  was 
coming  to  a  wooden  bridge  that  spanned  a  black  little 
stream,  when  out  of  the  crispness  of  the  morning  air 
came  a  series  of  sharp  percussions. 

She  knew  them  at  once,  the  rapid  fire  discharges  of  a 
motor  car  with  the  muffler  cutout  open.  Her  heart 
leaped  like  a  doe  discovered  by  a  hunter.  The  car  was 
somewhere  down  ahead,  but  was  not  in  sight,  where  the 
road  was  curved  in  the  woods.  Instinctively  certain 
that  pursuit  alone  could  arouse  men  at  sunrise,  she 
darted  swiftly  to  the  bridge,  leaped  down  a  frozen  bank 
of  gravel,  and  was  presently  crouching  in  the  shadows 
by  the  stream,  holding  her  breath  to  still  her  heart, 
which  she  felt  must  betray  her  with  its  beating. 

She  had  not  long  to  wait.  The  car  thus  early  dis- 
turbing the  silence  sped  with  a  snarl  of  power  to  the 
bridge  and  over  its  planks,  rattling  down  dust  and  bits 
of  snow  on  the  girl  as  gray  as  her  cloak. 

It  was  gone  as  quickly,  its  two  eager  occupants, 
Max  and  Jan,  wildly  searching  road,  copse,  and  field 


314  THURLEY  RUXTON 

as  they  rounded  the  circle  back  to  the  house  from  which 
their  intended  victim  had  escaped. 

They  had  made  their  discovery  shortly  after  two  in 
the  morning.  Returning  from  their  wait  at  the  mill 
and  their  murderous  assault,  made  upon  Banks,  who  had 
been  discovered  too  late  to  be  another  person  than  the 
young  Grand  Duke,  they  had  striven  in  vain  to  arouse 
Zagorsky,  till  the  door  had  been  forced  and  the  truth 
abruptly  discovered. 

At  daylight  the  search  on  foot  had  begun,  then  the 
car  brought  into  requisition.  They  had  taken  a  road 
where  some  tracks  in  the  snow  had  been  left  undisturbed 
by  the  wind.  The  tracks  were  not  Thurley's.  Now 
their  circle  brought  them  back  again,  calculations  con- 
vincing both  the  men  that  their  captive  could  scarcely 
have  gone  so  far,  even  by  walking  all  night. 

When  they  came  to  the  oldtime  blacksmith  shop,  they 
halted  and  broke  in  the  door. 

Thurley,  meantime,  not  having  dared  attempt  a  look 
when  the  car  was  passing,  remained  in  her  place  of  con- 
cealment till  the  faintest  sound  had  died  away  in  the 
distance.  When  she  emerged,  to  clamber  once  more  to 
the  frozen  road  and  hasten  on  more  feverishly  than  be- 
fore, she  was  suddenly  afflicted  by  a  second  thought 
which  made  her  sick  with  disappointment. 

It  might  have  been  Robley  in  his  car  from  whom  she 
had  hidden  at  the  bridge !  He  might  have  received  her 
note  at  last,  and  have  come  as  soon  as  possible,  arriving 
only  at  dawn !  It  was  highly  improbable,  after  all, 
that  creatures  such  as  she  had  seen  at  the  house  of  her 
imprisonment  would  employ  an  automobile. 

She  could  almost  have  cried,  she  could  almost  have 
turned  and  run  where  the  car  had  disappeared ;  but  the 


THE  GOLD  OF  MORNING  315 

thought  of  proceeding  in  that  direction  was  intensely 
frightening ;  she  could  only  plod  ahead. 

How  far  she  had  trudged  when  once  again  she  heard 
the  lively  puncturing  of  the  air  by  a  motor's  exhaust, 
•Thurley  neither  knew  nor  cared.  She  was  once  more 
possessed  by  alarms  and  excitements,  the  instincts  of 
precaution,  the  hope  of  deliverance  and  friends. 

The  car  she  heard  was  behind  her.  It  was  not  yet  to 
be  seen,  so  winding  was  the  road.  She  had  halted  op- 
posite a  more  than  usually  desolate  area,  where  trees 
had  been  cut,  earth  hauled  away,  and  stumps  left  strewn 
in  dismal  neglect.  She  darted  to  the  cover  that  the 
nearest  one  afforded,  and  concealed  herself  behind  its 
blackened  bulk. 

The  car  was  coming  rapidly,  still  hidden  by  the 
earthy  bank  where  excavations  had  ceased.  It  slowed 
to  take  a  furrowed  bit  of  road,  its  muffler  purring 
quietly,  then  rolled  into  view  with  the  sunlight  gleam- 
ing from  its  brass. 

"  Robley ! "  cried  Thurley,  leaping  to  her  feet,  and 
stumbling  and  pitching  grotesquely,  to  catch  her  bal- 
ance where  a  frozen  clod  had  caught  her  foot,  she  saw 
the  startled,  whitened  face  of  Stuyverant  turned  upon 
her  and  felt  as  if  her  very  soul  must  leap  from  her 
bosom  in  joy. 

He  had  halted  his  car  as  if  it  had  struck  a  wall.  He 
leaped  from  his  seat  as  he  had  that  day  when  he  fell, 
and  ran  to  catch  her  in  his  arms,  as  she  lunged  once 
more  to  fall  from  weakness  and  the  stiffness  of  her 
body. 

"Thurley!"  he  said.  "Thurley!  In  God's  name 
how  —  " 

"  Oh,  get  me  away !     Don't  stop !  "  she  interrupted 


316  THURLEY  RUXTON 

wildly,  clinging  to  him  helplessly.  "  I've  walked  so  far 
—  and  they  may  be  coming  any  minute !  Oh,  you've 
come  —  you've  come!  I  don't  see  how  you  ever  found 
me !  But  please  don't  wait  —  don't  talk !  Let's  go  — 
just  as  fast  as  ever  we  can  !  " 

"  But  Thurley  —  who  —  Let  me  help  you  in,"  he 
said  to  her,  leading  her  promptly  round  the  car,  where 
she  climbed  to  the  seat  beside  his  own.  "  There's  no 
one  on  the  road.  You're  cold!  Good  heavens,  what 
you  must  have  been  through!  You  must  take  these 
robes.  Perhaps  you'd  better  ride  in  the  back.  Which 
way  do  you  wish  me  to  go  ?  " 

So  many  words,  explanations,  and  questions  were  on 
his  mind  that  he  abandoned  coherence  in  despair.  And 
Thurley,  weakened  by  sudden  relief  and  reliance  on  his 
strength,  could  only  sink  in  the  cushioned  seat,  muffled 
with  furs,  and  reply  in  broken  sentences. 

"  I'd  rather  ride  here.  Oh,  to  see  you  —  anyone  — 
after  it  all !  The  horrible  dream  !  But  they'll  come  — 
they'll  come !  Just  straight  ahead  —  anywhere  but 
back  that  other  way  —  somewhere  to  get  a  train  or 
reach  a  house  and  demand  protection !  They'd  stop  at 
nothing  now !  Just  please  make  it  go !  " 

The  car  started  slowly  down  the  road. 

''  You're  safe,"  he  assured  her,  gaining  in  calm  as; 
her  weakness  increased  upon  her  and  the  need  for  his 
strength  arose.  "You're  excited,  Thurley  —  nat- 
urally. God !  to  think  —  " 

"What's  that?"  she  interrupted  wildly,  her  eyes 
tremendously  dilated  and  blazing  in  his  own. 

"What's  what?     I  —  » 

"  It's  another  car !     Oh,  if  it  should  be  —  " 

She  had  turned  to  look  backward  on  the  highway. 


THE  GOLD  OF  MORNING  317 

Suddenly  round  the  turn  shot  a  big  red  limousine,  two 
men  on  the  seat  in  front. 

One  of  the  men  half  rose  by  the  wheel  and  let  out  a 
yell  like  a  fiend. 

Stuyverant's  car  had  already  responded  to  his  urging 
of  spark  and  throttle.  He  felt  Thurley  slump  in  sick- 
ening fear,  and  understood  the  situation  as  no  spoken 
word  could  have  told  him. 

He  crowded  on  his  utmost  power,  the  monster  beneath 
him  lurched  forward  like  a  liberated  locomotive,  and  a 
furious  race  began. 


CHAPTER  XLII 

THE  BACE 

THERE  was  certainly  less  than  three  hundred  yards  be- 
tween the  cars  when  Jan  and  Max,  who  had  turned,  five 
miles  back,  on  suspicion,  to  pursue  the  Stuyverant  ma- 
chine, were  obliged  to  slow  for  the  briefest  period,  where 
the  ruts  would  have  wrecked  their  motor. 

Stuyverant,  glancing  back  at  them  quickly,  was  con- 
fident of  winning,  should  his  car  behave  its  best;  but 
his  face  was  grim. 

"  These  men  have  no  right  —  wouldn't  dare  —  "  he 
started  to  cry ;  but  he  realized  they  would  halt  at  noth- 
ing, as  a  vivid  conviction  was  flashed  on  his  brain  that 
doubtless  they  had  struck  the  blow  that  had  all  but 
killed  his  man. 

"  We're  gaining ! "  cried  Thurley,  her  strength  and 
courage  reasserting  themselves  with  wonderful  resil- 
ience. "  Can  you  give  her  any  more?  " 

For  his  answer  Stuyverant  j  ammed  the  muffler  cutout 
with  his  heel.  A  terrific  series  of  detonations  in- 
stantly followed.  The  car  plunged  forward  with  newer 
zest  and  trees  shot  past  in  a  blur. 

In  the  moment's  advantage,  caused  by  the  ruts  that 
held  the  pursuing  monster  at  the  rear,  they  nearly 
doubled  their  lead.  Then  on  came  the  giant  limousine 
like  the  fragment  of  a  meteor  ripping  up  the  road. 

It  was  Jan  driving,  his  rage  prodigious,  his  lust  for 
murder  now  a  mania,  broken  from  its  bonds.  The  car 
was  one  of  enormous  power,  a  racing  model,  equipped 

318 


THE  RACE  319 

with  the  limousine  for  winter  use,  and  but  little  hindered 
by  this  bulky  superstructure.  Its  six  big  cylinders 
were  pouring  might  and  a  gatling  fusillade  upon  the 
road.  It  roared  like  an  engine  of  doom  and  destruc- 
tion, hurtling  and  rocketing  to  overtake  the  fleeing  ma- 
chine ahead. 

Stuyverant's  car  was  low  to  the  ground,  like  a  grey- 
hound eager  for  work.  For  some  inexplicable  rea- 
son the  motor,  that  had  balked  in  the  night,  was  run- 
ning like  a  dream,  its  mighty  pistons  hurtling  a  cat- 
aract of  power  upon  the  shaft  and  wheels.  Despite 
the  superior  dynamic  of  the  car  behind,  it  continued  to 
creep  away. 

Snow,  frozen  dust,  and  a  stifling  cloud  of  fumes 
seemed  scorched  from  Stuyverant's  path  when  he  leaned 
a  little  forward  and  gave  more  oil  to  the  swiftly  heating 
motor.  Din,  crazy  speed,  and  appalling  velocity 
marked  the  course  where  the  huge  devices  raced. 

A  knife-edge  wind  seemed  hurling  down  upon  Thur- 
ley,  as  they  split  the  frozen  air.  The  road  became  a 
torrent,  rushing  incredibly,  under  their  wheels,  its  gray 
and  snow  white  blended  in  a  froth.  They  swung  about 
an  angle  in  the  highway,  out  upon  a  wider  pike,  which 
led  straightaway  to  a  village,  small  in  size. 

For  one  brief  second  Stuyverant  dreamed  that  to  halt 
in  the  town  and  demand  protection  might  be  advisable; 
but  he  almost  as  quickly  abandoned  the  thought  as  an 
invitation  to  death.  Not  only  was  the  settlement  in- 
significant, and  the  hour  too  early  for  its  officers  to  be 
astir  in  the  street,  but  the  fiery  projectile  behind,  belch- 
ing red  flame  and  scorching  the  very  snow  from  its 
path,  was  heating  to  new  efficiency  and  making  percep- 
tible gains. 


320  THURLEY  RUXTON 

There  was  nothing  on  earth  that  Robley  could  3o  by 
way  of  giving  more  power  to  his  car  or  heaving  out 
freight  to  make  it  lighter.  He  could  only  attempt  to 
hold  his  lead  by  absolutely  reckless  driving,  hoping  that 
some  deserved  catastrophe  might  overtake  the  minotaur 
of  evil  there  behind. 

They  shot  through  the  village  like  a  fury  of  battle, 
hurled  by  a  monstrous  hurricane,  frightful  echoes  of 
their  gatling  fire  thundering  back  from  the  houses. 

A  sharp  staccato,  like  a  pistol  shot,  in  the  uproar  of 
red-hot  exhausts,  pierced  through  the  roaring  of  the 
car  behind  and  told  of  a  "  miss  "  in  one  of  her  six  great 
cylinders. 

Two  men  and  a  dog  had  spun  dizzily  past,  the  sole 
signs  of  life  in  the  place. 

Again  that  barking  explosion  came,  and  Stuyverant's 
heart  and  his  stampeding  car  leaped  like  animals  to- 
gether. He  knew  his  pursuers  were  in  trouble. 

By  yards  and  rods  the  limousine  was  falling  to  the 
rear.  Lamed  by  the  one  balking  cylinder,  now  running, 
now  dead  for  a  second  or  less,  it  relinquished  speed  like 
a  Marathon  runner  facing  a  hill  on  the  final  lap  of  his 
race. 

A  gap  of  nearly  a  mile's  extent  was  swiftly  opened  be- 
tween the  two,  as  Stuyverant  held  to  his  speed.  Exul- 
tation, burning  in  his  pulses,  flaring  in  his  motor,  and 
roaring  in  his  wake,  made  hot  his  frame,  despite  the 
biting  wind,  and  brightened  his  eyes  with  triumph. 

He  shot  to  the  cover  of  a  stretch  of  woods,  where 
the  road  wound  westward  like  a  river.  A  crack  like  a 
rifle's  incisive  note  rang  out  on  the  air,  and  his  car 
swerved  wildly  from  the  road. 

A  tire  had  gone  from  the  right  fore  wheel,  and  a 


THE  RACE 

spring  was  snapped  as  he  wrenched  her  back  and  saved 
them  from  destruction. 

It  was  madness  to  drive  at  speed  after  that,  and  he 
groaned  as  he  slowed  her  to  reason. 

He  had  to  keep  on,  despite  his  flattened  casing.  And 
his  wrist  all  but  failed  as  he  clung  to  the  wheel,  holding 
the  cripple  from  plunging  away  on  a  tangent  of  death 
for  them  both. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  accident,  the  air 
startling  roar  of  the  huge  six-cylinder  came  vibrantly 
and  clearly  on  the  wind.  It  was  back  in  tune,  with  no 
more  missing  to  cut  its  power  down. 

"  They'll  catch  us,  Thurley !  "  he  called  to  the  girl. 
"  We're  done  for  now  on  speed." 

She  knew  precisely  what  had  happened.  She  knew 
how  utterly  mad  it  would  be  to  race  with  a  flat- 
tened front  tire.  On  this  rutted  road  it  was  not  to 
be  attempted  for  a  moment.  It  would  be  fairly  sui- 
cidal. 

She  could  think  of  nothing  to  say  and  Stuyverant 
shouted,  "  What  shall  we  do?  " 

The  car  was  still  racing,  but  slowly  now,  her  speed 
perhaps  sufficient  to  elude  the  pursuers  for  five  or  six 
minutes  or  more. 

"  We  couldn't  hide?  "  cried  Thurley,  and  Stuyverant 
glanced  at  the  woods. 

"  There's  just  one  chance,"  he  called  above  the  din, 
releasing  the  muffler  cut-out  for  the  purpose.  "  Give 
me  your  cloak.  You  take  my  cap  and  furs.  I'll  get 
out  and  run,  so  the  devils  can  see  me  —  and  you  drive 
on.  They'll  think  it  is  I  still  driving,  and  you  are  run- 
ning to  hide.  Slip  off  your  cloak  and  be  quick."  He 
halted  the  car  as  he  spoke. 


THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  But  oh,  if  anything  —  "  Thurley  started,  when  he 
interrupted  quickly. 

"  No  time  to  talk  or  argue.  It's  the  only  chance. 
Your  cloak!" 

He  had  dropped  off  his  great  fur  coat  and  clapped 
his  cap  upon  her  head.  She  rose  and  he  stripped  her  of 
the  old  gray  garment,  helping  her  swiftly  into  the  furs 
and  urging  her  into  his  seat. 

"  If  they  catch  you,  Robley  —  "  she  started  as  be- 
fore. "  I  mustn't  let  —  " 

"  I  love  you !  "  he  said,  in  the  stress  and  white  heat  of 
the  moment.  "  I'd  give,  my  life  to  serve  you !  Quick 
—  there  isn't  a  moment  to  lose !  Open  her  up  as  wide 
as  you  dare  to  drive,  and  don't  stop  for  anything 
on  earth ! "  He  leaped  from  the  car  and  started 
for  the  woods,  covered  from  heels  to  crown  by  the  long 
gray  cloak  that  Thurley  had  trailed  in  the  night. 
"Good  by!"  he  called.  "Don't  wait!  Don't  wait! 
They're  nearly  in  sight  up  the  road ! " 

"  Good  by !  "  she  replied,  the  tears  swiftly  springing 
in  her  softened  eyes,  and,  starting  the  car  with  her  firm, 
young  skill,  reinforced  by  the  courage  demanded  by  the 
moment,  she  was  going  again  at  dizzying  speed  when 
the  huge  limousine,  belching  and  roaring  with  malevo- 
lence and  blood  lust,  shot  into  view  around  the  bend,  and 
Stuyverant  ran  to  a  bit  of  brush  and  crouched  as  if  to 
hide. 

One  yell  of  satisfaction,  barely  audible  to  Robley, 
ascended  from  the  pursuing  car  and  informed  him  he 
had  been  seen. 

Almost  at  once  the  detonations  of  the  limousine 
ceased.  The  car  was  halted;  for  the  roadway  bent  a 
trifle,  and  the  way  to  the  woods  was  shorter  from  here 
than  from  where  the  fugutive  had  started. 


THE  RACE 

Both  men  leaped  from  the  heated  monster  and  started 
across  the  snow  and  broken  ground,  rapidly  approach- 
ing the  spot  where  Stuyverant  was  hiding.  He  leaped 
to  his  feet  and,  through  dry  weeds,  ran  as  if  stagger- 
ing with  terror. 

One  man  fell,  but  rose  again,  cursing  the  root  that 
had  thrown  him  down  and  drawing  his  knife  as  he  once 
more  darted  forward.  It  was  Jan,  and  he  quickly  over- 
took his  less  fiendish  comrade,  with  the  quarry  now 
nearly  in  his  grasp. 

Stuyverant  felt  for  his  pistol  —  and  nearly  collapsed 
with  a  sudden  memory  he  had  left  it  in  the  car.  For  a 
moment  he  nearly  went  wild  with  disappointment,  then 
adopted  a  desperate  plan.  Nothing  but  quickness  and 
the  great  advantage  of  surprise  could  avail  to  save  him 
now,  and  this  he  knew. 

He  seemed  to  struggle  on.  When  out  of  the  corner 
of  his  eye  he  could  see  his  pursuer's  shadow,  and  in  his 
ear  caught  the  puff  and  snort  of  the  fellow's  breathing, 
he  suddenly  halted,  turned  like  a  flash,  and  struck  the 
man  with  all  his  might,  fairly  in  the  pit  of  the  stomach. 

Down  he  went  like  a  stricken  bullock,  doubled  with 
agony,  to  writhe  on  the  earth  in  pain  and  loss  of  breath. 

Leaping  fairly  across  his  helpless  form,  Stuyverant 
met  the  German,  Max,  with  an  equally  unexpected  and 
unparried  blow,  on  the  point  of  the  chin,  and  saw  him 
quiver  where  he  fell. 

It  was  all  accomplished  in  the  briefest  span,  a  matter 
made  comparatively  easy  by  the  wholly  unlocked  for 
method  of  attack. 

Panting  and  white,  with  rage  and  his  effort,  Robley 
regarded  the  first  of  the  two  with  eyes  that  gleamed  like 
steel.  The  creature  was  helpless,  rolling  his  eyes  in  an 
anguish  that  did  not  subside. 


THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  You  curs !  "  said  Stuyverant,  taking  up  the  knife 
that  Jan  had  let  fall  from  his  hand,  and,  starting  at 
once  to  make  further  pursuit  impossible,  he  ran  and 
walked  to  their  waiting  car  and  clambered  to  the 
seat. 

For  the  first  time  then,  as  he  made  an  attempt  to 
grip  the  wheel  with  his  hand,  he  realized  that  his  wrist 
was  gone,  from  the  blows  he  had  just  delivered.  In  its 
mending  condition  it  had  been  too  weak  to  sustain  the 
force  of  the  shock.  It  was  useless,  though  not  again 
broken. 

He  had  hoped  to  take  the  limousine  and  continue  af- 
ter Thurley.  Such  a  course  was  out  of  the  question. 
But  to  wreck  the  car  was  well  within  his  power.  He 
made  ready  to  leap,  slipped  in  the  clutch,  speeded  up  as 
much  as  he  dared,  then,  pushing  the  spark  and  throttle 
forward,  jumped  out  at  the  side,  and  permitted  the 
erstwhile  roaring  monster  to  rush  unguided  down  the 
road. 

For  a  moment  it  clung  to  the  straight  bit  of  road  like 
a  thing  endowed  with  life;  then,  gathering  speed,  and 
lunging  forward  like  a  maddened  animal,  it  suddenly 
veered  at  the  highway's  curve  and  plunged  with  vio- 
lence incredible  down  through  a  glade  of  the  snow  and 
ice,  ramming  a  tree  with  an  impact  tremendous  to  be- 
hold. 

There  was  a  crash  of  shattered  glass,  fierce  grinding 
sounds,  the  crunching  of  iron,  and  turmoil  of  twisting 
steel,  and  its  wreckage  and  ruin  were  complete. 

Stuyverant  started  down  the  road  where  Thurley  had 
gone,  on  foot.  There  was  nothing  else  to  do,  no  other 
place  to  go.  He  merely  wondered  how  far  she  might 
have  sped,  how  far  he  must  walk  to  come  to  a  village  and 


THE  RACE  325 

get  a  train  at  last  —  perhaps  with  the  "  Princess," 
and  perhaps  alone. 

He  glanced  back  repeatedly,  until  at  length  he  came 
to  a  turn  of  the  highway,  beyond  which  was  an  opening 
through  the  woods  affording  a  view  of  all  the  open  space 
where  he  had  met  his  murderous  assailants.  Until  the 
place  was  hidden  from  his  view,  he  saw  no  sign  that 
either  man  had  risen  from  the  earth. 

He  was  going  rapidly,  merely  intent  upon  making  all 
possible  progress,  and  inclined  to  believe  that  Thurley 
might  attempt  to  secure  assistance  beyond  and  return 
again  to  the  scene,  when  he  was  thoroughly  astounded 
to  discover  his  car,  standing  unattended  in  the  road, 
some  distance  ahead,  a  bit  of  bluish  mist  between  the 
wheels  revealing  the  fact  that  the  motor  was  in  motion. 

He  hastened  his  pace,  alarmed  anew  as  he  saw  no 
sign  of  Thurley.  Then  he  came  to  the  side  of  the 
trembling  machine  and  glanced  hurriedly  about.  Thur- 
ley had  disappeared. 

For  a  moment  possessed  with  the  wildest  beliefs  that 
some  new  calamity  met  in  this  direction  had  accom- 
plished her  destruction  after  all,  he  ran  ahead,  came 
back,  called  out  her  name,  and  searched  all  the  wooded 
copse  with  a  quickly  roving  gaze. 

Not  a  ruffling  nor  a  track  did  the  snow  in  that  direc- 
tion afford.  On  the  road's  other  side  the  wind  had 
cleared  the  frozen  earth,  making  footprints  out  of  the 
question.  But  he  hastened  there,  and  beheld  in  the 
field  quite  a  distance  away  something  furry  that  lay  in 
the  snow. 

It  was  Thurley.  When  she  drove  away  and  left  the 
scene  where  Stuyverant,  running  and  hiding,  was  in- 
viting perhaps  even  death  to  overtake  him,  she  had  al- 


THURLEY  RUXTON 

most  immediately  suffered  a  sense  of  selfishness  in  at- 
tempting to  escape,  while  abandoning  the  man  she 
knew  she  dearly  loved.' 

She  had  merely  obeyed  instructions  hurriedly  sup- 
plied. Then  the  limping  car,  bumping  stiffly  over 
frozen  ruts,  had  presently  added  an  element  unforeseen. 
The  seat  cushion  next  to  the  one  she  occupied  was  jolted 
from  its  place.  In  a  shallow  receptacle  where  it  had 
been  placed  lay  Stuyverant's  revolver. 

The  car  had  arrived  at  the  turn  of  the  road  afford- 
ing a  second  view  of  the  field  where  Stuyverant  was  run- 
ning. As  Thurley  looked  she  beheld  a  man  go  down  in 
a  sudden  encounter.  She  was  certain  it  was  Robley, 
viciously  attacked  by  the  creatures  at  his  heels. 

She  had  halted  the  car,  snatched  up  the  revolver,  and 
run  with  all  her  might  toward  the  place  half  seen  be- 
yond. Then  her  foot  struck  a  root,  she  plunged  head- 
foremost on  the  earth,  the  pistol  was  discharged,  and 
she  lay  there,  motionless  and  white. 


CHAPTER  XLIII 

A  JOY   RESISTED 

STUYVERANT  came  running  to  the  place,  the  gravest 
fears  overwhelming  his  sense  of  reflection.  One  impres- 
sion only  was  his  mind  prepared  to  accept  —  a  second 
foe  had  accomplished  what  the  others  had  earlier  failed 
to  perform !  The  pistol,  gleaming  in  her  hand,  sent  a 
newer  shock  to  his  heart.  He  bent  down  at  once  and 
raising  Thurley's  head,  made  a  quick  examination  which 
revealed  no  sign  of  a  wound.  The  bullet  had  done  no 
harm. 

Thurley  had  struck  on  a  frozen  clod  and  the  blow  had 
stunned  her  senses.  Stuyverant  could  not  determine, 
however,  the  nature  or  extent  of  her  injuries,  and  feared 
they  were  the  worst.  His  mind  was  possessed  by  the 
thought  of  menace  in  all  that  wintry  scene.  He  felt 
the  most  urgent  necessity  for  getting  her  back  to  the 
car  and  far  away  without  another  moment's  loss  of 
time. 

He  attempted  to  lift  her  prostrate  form ;  but  his 
wrist  was  far  too  weak.  He  merely  succeeded  in  roll- 
ing her  over  and  raising  her  head  to  his  knee ;  but  that 
was  sufficient. 

Thurley  returned  to  consciousness  with  astonishing 
celerity,  once  her  position  was  altered.  She  opened  her 
eyes  and  looked  at  Stuyverant  wistfully,  as  if  some  fear 
that  she  had  only  dreamed  of  this  deliverance  were  col- 
oring all  her  thoughts. 

"You're  hurt?"  he  said  eagerly.  "What  hap- 
pened? " 

327 


328  THURLEY  RUXTON 

She  could  not  immediately  answer;  but  she  pres- 
ently said,  "  I  fell.  I  —  was  running  —  to  you  — 
with  something  —  with  your  pistol  —  that  was  it." 
She  raised  herself  abruptly,  staring  about  her  with 
blazing  eyes. 

"Where  are  they?"  she  cried  a  little  weakly. 
"  But  how  have  you  —  I  thought  I  saw  you  fall ! 
Oh !  let's  not  wait  another  minute !  " 

Her  nightmare  of  fears  and  horrors  had  rushed  upon 
her  relentlessly  with  consciousness  fully  returned.  She 
struggled  swiftly  to  her  feet,  her  aspect  one  of  alarm 
and  apprehensions. 

"  We're  safe  —  at  least  from  pursuit,"  he  said, 
glancing  far  across  the  field  of  snow  to  the  place  where 
the  nihilists  had  fallen.  "  But  we'll  go  at  once  and  try 
to  catch  a  train." 

With  the  pistol  recovered  and  placed  in  his  pocket, 
he  threw  off  the  cloak  that  had  served  them  both  and, 
supporting  her  arm  with  the  hand  left  uninjured,  con- 
ducted her  back  to  the  car. 

"  I  shall  have  to  ask  you  to  drive,"  he  said,  a  grim 
little  smile  for  a  second  curving  his  lips.  "  My  hand  is 
down  and  out  again  —  from  my  hurry  to  get  it  back 
into  use." 

Thurley  was  glad  to  take  the  wheel  and  start  the  car 
in  motion.  "What  happened?  "  she  said,  still  breath- 
lessly excited.  "  How  did  you  manage  to  escape?  Oh  ! 
when  I  saw  them  after  you  I  felt  the  most  awful  sensa- 
tions in  the  world !  " 

He  told  her  a  little  of  the  happenings  and  of  how  he 
had  wrecked  the  car.  He  placed  the  furs  about  them 
both  to  protect  her  from  the  wind.  And  at  last  he 
smiled  again. 


A  JOY  RESISTED 

"  For  the  third  fateful  time  you  drive  the  car  in  my 
place,  —  as  I  feared  you  might ;  but  as  neither  could 
have  expected." 

She  looked  at  him  once  more  in  her  wistful  way,  a 
way  that  went  straight  to  his  heart. 

"  But  you  do  think  this  is  the  last  of  these  frights ; 
that  the  charm  is  satisfied?"  she  asked.  "There  will 
be  no  more  like  this  —  with  accident  —  or  horror  in  it 
all?  " 

"  No  more,"  he  answered  solemnly.  "  And  yet  — 
each  time  has  drawn  us  nearer  together." 

The  color  burned  up  in  her  pallid  cheeks  superbly  — 
a  flash  of  the  Thurley  he  had  known  and  must  love, 
though  time  and  space  and  the  greater  abyss  of  hope- 
less separation  attempted  to  dim  its  flame.  Her  eyes 
met  his  for  a  wonderful  second  —  and  both  souls  knew 
the  deeps  of  love  wherein  they  floated  alone. 

The  words  he  had  spoken  when  they  parted  in  the 
road  —  that  swift  declaration  of  his  loyalty,  love,  and 
devotion,  echoed  anew  in  her  welcoming  heart  and  filled 
all  her  pulses  with  joy.  She  thrilled  to  the  words  he 
uttered  now,  his  grave  recognition  that  the  Fates  had 
drawn  their  two  unwitting  selves  together,  knitting  a 
bond  between  their  deepest  spirits  with  a  strength  they 
could  not  resist. 

Yet  even  here,  after  all  she  had  recently  endured,  she 
could  not  forget  her  word  to  Alice  Van  Eirk  nor  fully 
accept  this  wondrous  happiness,  vouchsafed  in  the  win- 
try desolation. 

"  We  have  had  some  extraordinary  experiences  to- 
gether," she  answered,  smiling  faintly.  "  It  makes  it 
seem  as  if  we  have  known  each  other  always." 

Stuyverant  had  swiftly  taken  flame.     Love  bounded 


330  THURLEY  RUXTON 

and  surged  In  his  veins.  He  felt  that,  more  than  any- 
one living,  he  had  rights  in  Thurley's  life,  and  happi- 
ness, rights  that  no  other  could  assume. 

"  We  have  known  each  other  always,"  he  said,  "  as 
two  souls  must,  when  Life  and  Chance  —  yes,  Nature 
and  God  —  have  wrought  to  fulfill  such  meetings,  desti- 
nies, such  comradeship,  as  ours ! "  He  placed  his 
hands  on  hers  that  grasped  the  wheel.  "  Thurley,  I 
told  you,  back  in  the  road  —  " 

"  Oh,  please ! "  she  begged  him  suddenly,  her  eyes 
swiftly  brimming  with  exquisite  joy  and  the  need  to 
curb  his  declaration.  "  Would  you  please  not  tell  me 
anything  now  —  I  mean  just  tell  me  how  you 
came?  " 

He  felt  that  he  understood,  and  yet  he  felt  she 
loved  him.  Divine  conviction  of  their  oneness  and 
their  sublimated  passion  swept  like  a  storm  upon  his  na- 
ture, beating  against  the  barrier  he  had  felt  and  dreaded 
between  them.  Constraint,  uncertainty,  even  pain  and 
hurt,  were  swiftly  combined  with  the  truths  and  neces- 
sities that  he  feared  must  still  hold  them  apart. 

Yet  if  he  somewhat  sounded  the  happiness  and  heart 
hunger  for  his  love  that  throbbed  in  Thurley's  bosom, 
he  also  felt  convinced  of  her  genuine  wish  to  avoid  the 
tender  topic  —  and  there,  as  in  all  else  where  her  wishes 
lay,  he  was  helpless  to  act  in  his  own  behalf,  no  matter 
what  the  penalty. 

His  disappointment  burned  in  his  eyes  along  with  the 
glow  of  his  love.  He  could  not  take  advantage  of  the 
situation  that  threw  her  thus  helplessly  upon  his  chiv- 
alry, and  his  heart,  protesting,  was  dumb. 

"  I  came  because  I  could  not  hesitate,"  he  told  her 
simply ;  and  briefly  he  recounted  all  that  had  happened 


A  JOY  RESISTED  331 

to  himself,  Alice,  and  the  Baron  since  the  moment  the 
abduction  was  complete. 

Thurley  broke  out  from  time  to  time  with  a  note  of 
surprise,  sympathy,  of  indignation,  when  she  learned  of 
Pelevin's  entire  duplicity.  Her  worry  and  compassion 
had  their  expression  when  he  told  her  of  the  long,  hard 
ride  with  his  man  and  the  unseen  attack  that  had  laid 
his  chauffeur  on  the  earth. 

"  You  must  send  a  nurse  at  once,"  she  declared,  when 
she  learned  the  object  of  his  early  morning  excursion. 
"  Perhaps  you  could  put  me  on  a  train  for  New  York 
and  go  back  with  a  nurse  in  an  hour." 

"  I  shall  take  you  home,"  he  answered.  "  You  have 
told  me  nothing  of  all  this  atrocious  business,  —  how  it 
happened,  how  you  got  away." 

She  related  everything,  glad  to  share  the  horrors  of 
her  days  and  nights  with  one  who  would  understand. 
She  shuddered  anew  over  all  she  had  endured  in  those 
final  hours  of  escape  and  flight  and  struggle  with  the 
cold.  Her  hand  went  out  involuntarily,  a  second,  to 
grasp  the  sleeve  of  his  coat,  so  vivid  were  the  moments 
lived  again,  in  her  imagination.  A  sacred  joy  leaped 
exultantly  in  his  heart  at  the  little  sign  of  her  confi- 
dence ;  then  her  hand  returned  to  the  wheel  again  and 
the  duty  of  guiding  the  car. 

It  was  still  fairly  early  in  the  morning,  with  the  sun 
warmly  blazing  from  a  cloudless  sky  at  last,  when  they 
came  to  a  city  on  the  railroad  and  learned  that  a  New 
York  limited  was  due  in  twenty  minutes.  They 
'phoned  to  Alice,  devoured  a  breakfast  of  rolls  and  cof- 
fee, placed  the  car  in  charge  of  a  local  garage,  and  sum- 
moned a  nurse  to  go  at  once  to  Banks,  in  North  Winog. 
Then  they  were  speeded  home,  missing  the  carriage 


332  THURLEY  RUXTON 

Alice  had  sent  to  the  ferry,  where  Robley  had  taken  a 
taxicab  at  the  moment  of  arriving. 

A  white  and  fluttering  fairy  godmother,  the  victim  of 
sudden  reactions  and  relaxings  of  nervous  strain,  at 
last  clasped  Thurley  somewhat  hysterically  to  her  bosom 
and  cried  for  the  joy  she  had  felt  was  gone  past  all  re- 
calling. Robley  was  sent  to  his  physician,  for  needed 
attention  to  his  wrist ;  and  the  "  Princess  "  was  finally 
sent  to  bed,  where  she  sank  into  slumber  like  a  child. 

The  chapter  of  violent  occurrences  was  destined  to 
achieve  a  fitting  close.  All  North  Winog,  tremendously 
shaken  by  the  crime  committed  at  their  very  doors,  had 
aroused  like  a  congress  of  Sheriffs.  At  noon,  in  the 
old,  abandoned  house  where  Thurley  had  been  prisoned, 
they  came  upon  a  dreadful  sight,  where  Jan  and  Za- 
gorsky,  still  clutching  knives,  lay,  slain  by  one  another. 
Pelevin  and  Max  had  fled.  What  duel  of  words,  recrim- 
inations, and  passions  had  preceded  the  deadly  combat 
waged  with  steel,  no  witness  was  ever  to  reveal.  Mute 
testimony  of  the  fierce  and  savage  conflict  between  the 
man  and  woman  was  supplied  by  everything  in  and 
about  the  room  where  they  had  fought.  And  the  hatred 
of  man  and  distrust  of  their  kind,  which  alone  must 
actuate  the  fanatical  nihilist,  was  frozen  indelibly  upon 
their  features  as  they  lay  there,  stark  and  cold. 


CHAPTER  XLIV 

UNEXPECTED    AID 

IT  was  fully  two  days  before  Thurley  and  Alice  were 
sufficiently  recovered  to  resume  their  ways  of  life. 
That  Thurley  was  not  completely  prostrated  was  solely 
to  the  credit  of  her  will,  her  courage,  and  her  magnifi- 
cently perfect  health. 

The  news  had  gone  rapidly  about  the  circle  that  the 
"  Princess  "  had  returned,  and  for  once  the  daily  papers 
were  unaware  of  the  vital  facts  in  the  story.  No  one 
save  Stuyverant,  Alice,  and  the  Baron  had  been  authen- 
tically informed  of  what  had  taken  place. 

As  if  all  eagerness  to  regain  lost  ground  and  gratify 
desires  and  appetites  merely  whetted  by  Thurley's  ab- 
sence from  the  scene,  her  numerous  admiring  swains  re- 
doubled their  former  efforts  for  her  favor.  Whole 
shops  full  of  flowers  trooped  fragrantly  in  at  the  man- 
sion's doors,  rivaled  only  by  white  winged  invitations 
to  opera  parties,  cotillions,  dinners,  receptions,  with 
which  all  Swelldom  inundated  Alice  and  her  protegee. 

Baron  von  Hochhaus,  duly  informed  as  to  Thurley's 
safe  return,  desired  to  call  at  the  earliest  moment  ren- 
dered possible  by  grave  complications  of  his  business. 
Count  Fiaschi  was  fired  with  pent-up  ardor  which  could 
scarcely  wait  to  be  conventional  or  be  restrained  for  an- 
other hour.  His  insistence,  indeed,  roused  Thurley  to 

333 


834  THURLEY  RUXTON 

a  sense  of  resentment  most  diverting  from  her  recent 
terrifying  adventures. 

But  her  one  great  happiness  now  was  Alice.  They 
two  had  been  knitted  to  a  sweet  relationship  that  was 
second  only  to  that  of  mother  and  daughter.  Alice  had 
clung  to  her  just  a  little  wildly,  accusing  herself  of  hav- 
ing made  the  girl's  dread  experience  possible,  and  de- 
claring her  frights,  her  despair,  and  her  love  repeatedly. 
She  had  hung  upon  every  word  and  moment  of  the  nar- 
rative, breathless  and  white  with  each  succeeding  an- 
guish that  Thurley  had  endured.  And  she  had  since 
become  childishly  loath  to  see  her  "  Princess  "  depart 
from  her  sight  for  so  much  as  a  moment. 

This  was  the  partially  restored  condition  of  affairs 
at  the  great  Fifth  Avenue  palace  when  Acton  Gaillard, 
driven  to  final  desperation,  telephoned  to  Thurley  on 
Wednesday  afternoon  for  a  private  interview. 

"  I  have  something  important  to  say,  to  request,"  he 
told  her,  his  voice  harsh  and  hoarse  on  the  wire.  "  It 
is  nothing  for  myself,  but  something  concerning  a  cer- 
tain man  who  has  thrust  his  attentions  upon  you  —  a 
certain  Count.  I  beg  you  to  let  me  come." 

Thurley  had  told  him  to  come.  He  arrived  at  four, 
a  haggard,  nerveless  being,  as  remotely  related  to  the 
Gaillard  she  had  known  as  a  dried  and  frozen  rill  is  re- 
lated to  the  boisterous  and  arrogant  brook  of  the 
spring. 

She  was  shocked  at  his  appearance,  unaware  either 
that  Fiaschi  had  driven  him  finally  to  the  blackest  rim 
of  ruin,  or  that  matters  of  money  could  so  undermine 
and  sap  a  strong  man's  strength. 

"  I  haven't  much  to  tell  you,  after  all,"  he  said,  with 
a  sickly  sort  of  smile,  when  the  mere  conventions  of 


UNEXPECTED  AID  335 

their  meeting  had  been  satisfied ;  "  but  I  felt  I  must  beg 
this  chance  of  warning  you  that  Count  Fiaschi  is  an 
utterly  unscrupulous  cur,  with  whom  to  associate  is  a 
degradation.  I  have  known  him  a  year.  I  have  no 
wish  to  gabble  of  his  shameless  liaisons,  his  abominable 
affairs  on  the  Continent,  his  glaring  duplicities,  or  a 
score  of  transactions  barely  less  than  crimes ;  but  I 
couldn't  rest  till  I  let  you  know  a  little  of  what  he  is. 
I  have  really  come  for  that  —  and  also  to  implore  you, 
in  the  name  of  everything  decent  and  American,  to 
expel  this  charlatan,  this  leech  and  dog,  from  your, 
circle." 

Thurley,  already  sufficiently  informed  as  to  Count 
Fiaschi's  detestable  characteristics,  was  nevertheless  a 
little  curious  to  know  what  Gaillard  meant  and  what  he 
might  also  know.  "  Your  indictment  is  very  positive," 
she  said.  "  You  must  be  prepared  to  prove  a  case 
against  him." 

"  I  could  prove  a  hundred  with  a  little  time,"  an- 
swered Gaillard  emphatically.  "  I  have  made  no  prep- 
arations for  any  such  exposure.  It  was  neither  my  way 
nor  my  duty.  He  has  been  my  business  partner.  He 
has  used  my  confidence  for  my  ruin.  He  has  beaten 
me,  ruined  me,  working  on  my  business  word  and  honor, 
all  in  his  effort  to  thrust  me  aside  from  his  path  to  you ! 
It  is  not  for  that  I  am  here,  however,  smirching  the 
man  behind  his  back.  I  can  take  my  beating,  the 
wreckage,  everything,  if  only  I  can  be  assured  that 
through  it  he  shall  not  triumph  here !  And  understand 
I  have  realized  at  last  my  own  mistakes  of  the  past  and 
the  place  where  I  put  myself ;  but  I  almost  feel  I  could 
murder  this  whelp  if  he  also  blinded  you !  " 

His  emotions  were  tremendous.     They  shook  him  as 


336  THURLEY  RUXTON 

if  they  were  the  masters.  In  his  pale,  livid  face  only 
his  two  eyes  seemed  alive,  burning  with  the  concen- 
trated intensity  of  all  his  angered  being. 

Thurley  gazed  at  him  astonished.  She  had  no 
thought  of  Fiaschi  now  as  an  element  of  menace  in  her 
life ;  she  thought  of  him  only  as  a  monster  in  whose  ten- 
tacles the  man  before  her  appeared  to  be  strangely 
helpless.  She  felt  Gaillard's  helplessness,  his  surrender 
in  some  mighty  struggle,  doubtless  waged  with  all  his 
stubborn  strength  against  some  unseen  treachery  he 
was  powerless  to  meet. 

Her  resentment  against  Fiaschi,  already  vigorous  and 
impatient,  was  like  a  mental  fulminate,  requiring  only 
a  spark  to  flash  out  a  shattering  explosion. 

"  Do  you  think,"  she  said,  with  simulated  calm  she 
was  far  from  feeling,  "  that  the  Count  has  dealt  un- 
fairly with  you  for  the  purpose,  for  any  reason  at  all 
concerned  with  me?  " 

"  To  put  me  out  of  the  running ! "  Gaillard  an- 
swered hotly.  "  That's  the  part  I  couldn't  stand. 
When  a  man  is  my  partner  and  does  a  thing  like  that, 
I'd  do  almost  anything  to  snatch  away  the  prize  he 
thinks  he  has  won !  " 

Thurley's  eyes  blazed  and  steadied  as  she  looked 
upon  Gaillard's  face.  "  Would  you  mind  just  telling 
me  a  little  of  how  he  has  beaten  you  in  business?  " 

Gaillard  failed  to  understand.  He  expected  that 
Thurley,  at  the  end,  would  attempt  a  defense  of  the 
Count.  Perhaps  for  that  reason  he  made  more  clear, 
more  naked  and  complete,  the  revelations  hotly  poured 
from  his  lips.  He  told  of  his  first  discoveries  that 
Fiaschi,  supposed  to  be  his  friend  as  well  as  business  as- 
sociate and  partner  in  their  enterprise,  had  begun  to 


UNEXPECTED  AID  337 

undermine  his  credit.  He  added  item  after  item  of  the 
Count's  intrigues  and  hidden  maneuvers  to  compass  his 
absolute  ruin. 

"  I  fought  all  last  week,  when  I  thought  I  was 
done,"  he  added  in  conclusion,  rising  to  pace  the  floor 
and  halting  to  mark  his  point,  "  and  I  made  another 
loan.  It  was  all  I  could  get.  I  thought  it  would  tide 
me  over.  Now  he  has  engineered  the  final  coup,  in  buy- 
ing up  some  notes  of  mine  —  of  course  through  a 
friend  —  and  insisting  on  payments  that  cannot  be 
made,  and  so  —  I  rise  to  take  the  gaff."  His  smile  was 
a  ghastly,  mirthless  attempt,  such  as  one  would  expect 
on  the  lips  of  a  warrior,  who,  about  to  die,  salutes  great 
Caesar  on  his  throne.  He  added,  "  I  suppose  '  he  who 
takes  up  the  Street  must  perish  by  the  Street  * ;  but 
partners  should  be  square !  " 

Thurley  was  stirred  to  the  depths  of  her  womanly 
nature.  Gaillard,  she  knew,  had  "  confessed  "  his  fail- 
ure in  the  fight  he  had  waged  with  a  species  of  relief, 
as  to  one  who  had  once  been  something  more  than  just 
a  social  acquaintance.  She  felt,  indeed,  that  she  was 
the  only  one  to  whom  it  could  have  been  told.  And 
therein  she  was  right.  She  controlled  her  one  great 
impulse  by  a  splendid  effort  of  will ;  but  her  course  was 
as  clear  as  the  wind, 

"When  must  it  end?"  she  inquired.  "When  must 
you  meet  your  obligations  or — go  under?" 

"  To-morrow  afternoon." 

"  And  how  much  woney  would  it  need  to  pay  —  I 
mean  to  win  —  to  win  ?  " 

He  smiled  again  and  shook  his  head.  "  Nearly 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars." 

Her  excitement  grew  intense.     The  color  flamed  up- 


338  THURLEY  RUXTON 

ward  in  her  cheeks  superbly.  "  Then  thirty  thousand 
would  make  it  absolutely  certain?" 

"  Absolutely.  However,  I  might  as  well  wish  for 
thirty  millions.  But  —  why  —  " 

"  I  wish  to  let  you  have  it ! "  she  interrupted  fever- 
ishly, her  eyes  ablaze  with  the  prospect  of  Fiaschi's  de- 
feat. "  Please  don't  ask  me  why  to-day ;  but  say  that 
you'll  take  it  —  and  win !  " 

Gaillard  stared.     "You  wish  me  to  beat  Fiaschi?  " 

"  More  than  anything  in  all  the  —  You'll  take 
it?  You'll  let  me  help?  " 

"  But  if  I  should  lose,  after  all,  be  a  year  or  more  re- 
paying —  " 

"  You  mustn't  lose !  You  shan't !  You're  too  Amer- 
ican !  Will  you  take  the  money  —  and  come  out  on 
top  in  the  end?  " 

"  I  will,  by  Heaven ! "  he  answered,  a  surge  of  color 
leaping  for  the  first  time  to  his  face.  "  Thurley  —  " 

"  Please,  nothing  but  your  consent,"  she  interrupted. 
"  I'll  go  at  once  and  get  the  check." 

And  presently  Gaillard  left  the  house,  the  bit  of 
paper  in  his  pocket  and  wonder  and  fire  in  his  soul.  It 
was  strange  that  even  in  his  humbled  mood,  he  could 
not  understand.  He  was  certain  a  spark  of  her  for- 
mer love  had  ignited  Thurley's  heart. 

Thurley,  on  her  part,  as  thoroughly  convinced  that 
her  action  would  be  instantly  comprehended,  went  to 
Alice  radiantly  excited.  "  He's  gone,"  she  said.  "  I 
don't  suppose  you  saw  him  —  pale  as  a  pan  of  dough 
and  frightfully  nervous.  I  have  lent  him  thirty 
thousand  dollars." 

Alice  suppressed  a  gasp,  but  looked  at  her,  stunned 
with  amazement.  She  merely  said,  "  Acton  Gaillard?  " 


UNEXPECTED  AID  339 

Thurley  realized  abruptly  that  the  shock  to  Alice 
was  staggering,  though  the  reason  escaped  her  intui- 
tions. "Why,  yes,  I —  Do  you  very  much  mind?" 
she  asked  her  anxiously.  "  I  guess  I  did  it  before  I 
realized  that  the  money  —  " 

"  The  money  was  yours,  to  dispose  of  as  you 
please,"  Alice  interrupted,  smiling  peculiarly.  "  Do 
you  feel  like  a  drive  to  Mrs.  Ashley  Duane's?  Lady 
Calthorp  has  something  important  to  communicate 
and  hoped  we'd  come  this  afternoon." 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  Thurley,  a  little  afraid  she  had 
overstepped  the  mark  at  last  and  sacrificed  the  confi- 
dence that  Alice  had  heretofore  reposed  in  all  her  words 
and  actions.  "  Have  I  done  something  very  wrong  or 
foolish?" 

"  Certainly  not,"  said  Alice,  almost  reassuringly ; 
"  but  may  I  ask  if  Acton  requested  such  a  loan?  " 

"  Oh,  not  in  the  least !  "  said  Thurley  sturdily.  "  It 
surprised  him  as  much  as  —  as  it  seems  to  astonish 
you." 

Alice  kissed  her,  to  dispel  a  line  of  worry  on  her  brow. 

"  Then  perhaps  he's  as  fortunate  as  I,  dear  child ; 
so  go  and  be  dressed,  in  a  hurry." 

Thurley  went  off  to  her  own  boudoir,  much  puzzled 
in  her  mind. 


CHAPTER  XLV 

A  DROVE   OF   LIONS 

THE  elements  essential  to  a  logical  climax  of  the  inno- 
cent "  royal "  diversion  that  Alice  Van  Kirk  had  per- 
mitted, with  Thurley  as  the  central  figure,  were  swiftly 
gathering  when,  on  Friday  afternoon,  two  widely  op- 
posed individuals  made  their  appearance  at  the  Fifth 
Avenue  mansion. 

One  of  the  visitors  was  Robley  Stuyverant;  the 
other  was  Pelevin.  Each  had  purposely  chosen  a  mo- 
ment of  Thurley's  absence  from  the  "  palace  "  the  bet- 
ter to  further  his  ends. 

Pelevin  came  in  the  guise  of  a  servant,  seeking  em- 
ployment as  footman.  He  made  his  application  in  the 
region  below  stairs,  where  such  an  incident,  though  de- 
cidedly unusual,  excited  no  particular  interest  and  cer- 
tainly no  disquietude.  His  desires  were  immediately 
communicated  to  the  mistress  of  the  house,  who 
promptly,  but  in  a  spirit  of  kindness,  replied  that  her 
retinue  afforded  no  vacancies,  wherefore  she  regretted 
her  inability  to  accomodate  another  servant. 

Pelevin,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  had  expected  some  such 
reply.  During  the  few  close  packed  minutes  of  his 
stay,  however,  he  had  managed  to  acquire  a  number  of 
important  facts  concerning  the  plan  of  the  house,  the 
number  of  its  servants,  their  duties,  and  a  little  of  the 
ways  of  life  of  those  who  resided  above.  When  he 
presently  departed  he  was  singularly  undepressed  for 

340 


A  DROVE  OF  LIONS  341 

one  whose  desires  for  employment  had  met  with  so  little 
encouragement.  Even  the  servants  to  whom  he  had 
spoken  were  a  trifle  suspicious  of  his  manner;  but  his 
visit  was  soon  forgotten. 

Stuyverant,  bent  on  a  mission  as  vital  to  himself  as 
that  which  brought  Pelevin,  seemed  to  Alice  a  trifle  con- 
strained when  he  entered  the  room  where  she  was  sit- 
ting. It  was  her  own  retreat,  the  room  in  which  she 
had  always  received  him  before,  an  apartment  where 
the  very  atmosphere  was  charged  with  discussions  of 
Thurley.  It  was  destined  to  be  charged  anew  to-day. 

"  Well,  Robley,"  said  Alice,  once  more  restored  to  her 
lighter,  more  jovial  mood,  "  you  appear  as  chipper  and 
gay  as  a  clam.  Has  someone  died  and  left  you  another 
fortune  ?  " 

Stuyverant  attempted  to  smile ;  but  its  failure  verged 
on  the  tragic.  "  I'm  all  right,"  he  asserted,  but  with- 
out convincing  emphasis.  "  I  just  dropped  in  to  ask 
if  by  any  chance  you  or  Miss  Thurley  may  have  re- 
ceived a  letter  addressed  to  me  —  intended  for  me, 
would  be  more  accurate  —  and  perhaps  directed 
wrongly  by  mistake?  " 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  Alice.  "  Thurley  brought  me 
some  such  epistle  this  morning,  and  we  sent  it  at  once 
to  your  address  ;  at  least,  it  was  posted  by  noon.  Why? 
Was  it  anything  unduly  important  ?  " 

"  I  must  ask  you  what  comprised  its  text?  " 

"  Oh,  it  was  just  a  sort  of  business  announcement,  I 
should  say ;  something  about  some  bonds ;  a  special 
concession  from  the  Paris  Bourse,  if  I  remember  cor- 
rectly. It  merely  directed  your  attention  to  the  fact 
that  investments  were  now  made  possible  in  some  sort 
of  continental  bonds." 


842  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  Did  it  come  from  the  office  of  Acton  Gaillard  ?  " 
His  gravity  impressed  her  inescapably. 

"  Why,  yes.  We  rather  wondered,  of  course.  I 
felt  convinced  that  some  blunder  of  mixing  en- 
velopes —  Perhaps  you  received  some  other  note,  or 
letter,  addressed  to  Thurley." 

"  I  did,"  said  Stuyverant,  his  face  peculiarly  drawn. 
"  I  have  brought  it  with  me,  thinking  it  might  be  of 
value." 

He  drew  an  envelope  from  his  pocket,  removed  a 
folded  sheet  of  writing  linen,  and  placed  it  in  Alice's 
hand.  She  took  it  with  a  sense  of  the  ominous  impend- 
ing. 

It  was  the  briefest  bit  of  scrawl: 

DEAR  THURLEY. — Just  a  formal  receipt,  acknowledging 
the  loan  of  your  thirty  thousand  dollars.  You  must  let  me 
come  Friday  night,  as  per  my  earlier  request.  With  love, 

ACTON. 

Alice  read  it  at  a  glance,  and  the  color  mounted 
swiftly  to  her  face.  A  more  provoking  accident  she 
could  scarcely  imagine  occurring  at  this  particular 
time.  She  looked  up  presently  and  met  a  somewhat 
stern  and  chilling  gaze  from  Robley's  blue-gray  eyes. 
There  seemed  to  be  nothing  adequate  to  say,  and  noth- 
ing to  do.  She  tried  a  smile. 

"Well?" 

"It's  true?"  he  said.  "She  has  made  him  this 
loan?" 

Alice  arched  her  brows.  "  My  dear  Robley,  isn't 
that  rather  a  matter  of  her  concern  alone?  " 

He  rose  and  rammed  his  hands  in  his  pockets.     "  Ob- 


A  DROVE  OF  LIONS  343 

viously.  You  realize,  of  course,  Alice,  that  I  made  this 
discovery  through  no  fault  or  prying  of  my  own?  " 

"  Is  it  necessary  to  state  that,  Robley?  " 

His  manner  altered  instantly.  "  Oh,  I  —  I'm  hardly 
responsible  for  what  I  may  say  or  do !  This  thing  has 
jarred  me,  that's  all." 

She  looked  out  at  the  window.  "Well,  it  jarred 
me." 

"  You  knew  about  it  before?  " 

"  She  told  me  she  had  lent  him  the  money." 

"  What  do  you  make  of  it,  if  I  may  ask?  " 

"  I  made  a  wry  face  over  it,"  said  Alice ;  "  but  — 
what  is  the  use?  " 

"  Then  it  doesn't  make  you  happy  ?  " 

"  Very  few  of  the  world's  occurrences  seemed  de- 
signed for  my  particular  joy." 

He  crossed  to  another  window  and  stood  there,  star- 
ing out  at  the  park.  "  I  admit  I've  been  fool  enough 
to  dream  dreams,"  he  confessed,  after  a  moment  of  si- 
lence. "  I  could,  I  believe,  have  accepted  philosophic- 
ally anything  that  the  needs  of  a  nation,  at  the  hands 
of  this  young  Grand  Duke,  anything  that  political 
necessity  —  Hadn't  you  seen  any  signs  of  this  rela- 
tionship with  Gaillard  ?  " 

"  Perhaps ;  but  I  thought  —  "  She  did  not  finish ; 
but  shrugged  her  shoulders  instead. 

"  Had  he  met  her  before?  " 

"  So  I  hear." 

"  You  weren't  consulted  first  about  this  loan  ?  " 

Alice  smiled  as  before,  without  mirth  or  special 
meaning.  "  My  dear  Robley,  we  must  neither  of  us 
forget  that  Thurley  is  of  age  and  the  mistress  of  her 
own  affairs." 


344  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  Oh,  but  this  Gaillard ! "  he  exclaimed  impatiently. 
"  I  suppose  he's  coming  here  to-night  ?  " 

"  I  believe  he  is." 

He  turned  and  looked  at  her  squarely,  his  fine  face 
rechiseled  in  its  lines.  "  I  couldn't  have  believed  it, 
Alice,  if  I  hadn't  had  this  accidental  notice." 

"  Accidental?  "  she  echoed.  "  You  don't  really  think 
Mr.  Gaillard—" 

"  The  mixing  of  envelopes  doesn't  often  occur  in  a 
business  man's  office  without  express  intent,"  he  an- 
swered incisively.  "  Still,  I  may  of  course  be  mis- 
taken." 

"  He  couldn't  be  such  a  cad,"  said  Alice.  "  Al- 
though I  might  have  expected  —  Oh,  Robley,  let's 
not  attempt  to  judge,  to  settle,  to  do  anything  about 
this  unfortunate  matter  here  this  afternoon.  Come  and 
see  Thurley  for  yourself." 

"To-night?" 

"  Good  heavens,  no !  I  don't  know  how  we're  going 
to  manage —  Come  to-morrow,  or  Sunday.  Come 
when  you're  calmer,  anyway.  It's  so  easy  to  make 
mistakes." 

"Alice,  you  really  wish  to  encourage  me  to  hope?  " 

"To  hope  for  what?" 

"  You  know  how  I  feel  toward  your  protegee." 

"  But  I  don't  know  how  she  feels  toward  you.  And 
if  I  did  —  my  dear  boy,  I've  about  made  up  my  mind 
that  the  Fates  will  have  their  way,  no  matter  who 
it  pinches.  That's  all.  Now  do  say  good  by  and 
go." 

He  had  barely  gone  when  one  of  the  servants 
brought  her  a  letter,  delivered,  he  said,  by  special  mes- 
senger, waiting  to  take  a  reply.  The  letter  was  di- 


A  DROVE  OF  LIONS  345 

rected  to  Alice.  It  came  from  Baron  von  Hochhaus  on 
affairs  of  the  young  Grand  Duke. 

Alice  read  it  with  amusement  —  of  a  kind.  It  was 
not,  however,  a  humorous  epistle.  It  was  practically 
a  warning  that  the  ardent  and  somewhat  unmanage- 
able young  Karl-Wilhelm,  Grand  Duke  of  Saxe  Hertze 
and  Heimer,  desired  to  honor  himself  by  calling  that 
evening,  unless  his  visit  should  be  inconvenient  or  un- 
timely. 

In  the  midst  of  the  letter's  perusal,  Thurley  re- 
turned, fresh  from  a  gallop  in  the  park  with  her  groom 
and  a  special  guardian  on  whose  attendance  Alice  had 
insisted. 

Alice  called  her  at  once  to  hear  the  note,  particularly 
the  postscript,  which  read  as  follows: 

I  am  practically  powerless  to  avert  this  adventure  on  the 
part  of  his  Excellency  Karl-Wilhelm,  and  I  therefore  take 
this  means  and  occasion  to  state  that  Princess  Thirvinia, 
recently  discovered,  and  found  to  be  quite  ill,  is  by  the 
grace  of  God,  so  miraculously  improved  that  her  immediate 
return  to  Europe  is  contemplated.  You  will  readily  under- 
stand, I  am  certain,  and  perhaps  even  pardon  me,  if  I 
refer  to  a  former  conversation  with  yourself  in  which  I 
suggested  the  service  possible  to  Hertzegotha  in  a  complete 
discouragement  of  the  Grand  Duke  by  one  of  the  noblest 
young  women  it  has  ever  been  my  pleasure  to  encounter. 
May  I  beg  a  little  further  indulgence  in  behalf  of  my  wor- 
ried and  disordered  country? 

Thurley,  already  acquainted  with  the  outcome  of  the 
Baron's  former  visit,  during  the  time  of  her  own  de- 
spair and  anguish,  was  now  amazed  to  learn  of  the 
finding  of  the  actual  Princess.  She  was  perhaps  also 


346  THURLEY  RUXTON 

a  little  startled  concerning  possible  results.  She  en- 
tirely overlooked  the  point  that  appealed  to  Alice. 

"  Does  it  mean  that  we  —  that  discovery  —  Does 
it  mean  very  much  to  us  ?  "  she  inquired  gravely,  look- 
ing at  Alice  in  her  girlishly  wistful  way.  "  You  can 
take  it  as  part  of  the  joke?  " 

"  It  isn't  that,  my  dear,"  said  Alice,  lightly  enough. 
*'  I  was  thinking  how  utterly  absurd  it  is  for  Acton 
Gaillard,  the  Count,  and  now  the  Duke  to  insist,  as 
they  have,  on  coming  here  all  in  one  evening  —  all  to- 
gether —  or  one  behind  the  other,  perhaps,  —  for  I 
hardly  suppose  you'll  enter  the  cage  with  all  your  lions 
in  a  drove." 

"  Oh,  he  does  want  to  come  to-night,  of  course,1'  said 
Thurley,  still  distinctly  serious.  "  I  had  completely 
forgotten.  But  Count  Fiaschi's  to  come  by  eight  — 
and  be  gone  in  fifteen  minutes.  Mr.  Gaillard  arrives 
at  half-past  eight  and  —  "  Her  eyes  flashed  fun  and 
warmth.  "  Why  not  let  the  Duke  be  last,  at  nine 
o'clock?  I  think  I'd  like  it  —  three  within  the  hour." 

"  I  thought  so,  or  thought  perhaps  it  might  be  en- 
tertaining," answered  Alice,  aware  of  the  general  re- 
ception planned  for  the  Count,  but  puzzled  still  by 
Thurley's  attitude  with  Gaillard.  "  Shall  I  answer 
nine  to-night  ?  " 

"  You  may  as  well,"  said  Thurley.  "  IVe  heard 
there's  a  charm  in  threes." 

How  easy  it  was  to  remember  the  things  that  Rob- 
ley  had  declared!  How  eagerly,  gladly,  and  naturally 
her  thoughts  went  forth  to  find  him,  day  and  night! 
How  she  treasured  the  flowers  that  came  from  his 
hand,  among  the  houseful  constantly  arriving!  And 
how  often  she  wished  she  could  tell  him  things,  share 


A  DROVE  OF  LIONS  347 

with  him  all  the  long  day's  happenings,  in  the  way  that 
comrades  should! 

"  Charms  in  threes !  "  repeated  Alice.  "  I  should 
hope  there  might  be  some  few  charms  distributed  among 
this  oddly  assorted  trio;  but  I  greatly  rejoice  that 
the  Count's  have  all  been  discovered." 

The  Count,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  had  been  more  than 
discovered  recently;  he  had  been  a  bit  exposed,  like- 
wise a  bit  defeated  —  and  was  blissfully  unaware  of 
either  pertinent  occurrence. 

Not  only  had  Gaillard  rounded  on  him  brilliantly, 
recouping  lost  ground  with  a  second  burst  of  skill,  in- 
spired by  Thurley's  unexpected  help  and  attitude,  but 
the  all  important  intelligence  imparted  by  Lady  Honore 
Calthorp  at  the  tea  was  of  such  a  nature  that  Alice 
was  radiant  with  joy.  The  hour  had  come  to  mete 
out  punishments  for  things  endured  under  the  laws  of 
the  social  world  —  and  Alice  was  a  woman. 

Thurley  had  drifted  far  away,  on  a  thought  of  the 
young  Duke  Karl.  "  Some  of  his  ways  are  very  charm- 
ing," she  said.  "  I  felt  that  you  thought  so  too." 

Alice,  who  had  spoken  of  the  Count,  betrayed  new 
surprise.  She  felt  she  should  never  in  the  least  know 
Thurley  after  all.  "  Why,  yes,"  she  agreed.  "  But 
there  are  charms  and  charms  —  and  fortunately  no 
man  has  them  all.  Poor  little  Zora  Norton  married  a 
very  charming  creature  three  years  ago.  The  last 
time  I  saw  her  she  looked  at  me  like  a  Dresden  china 
shepherdess  and  sweetly  lisped,  '  Doesn't  a  woman  have 
to  love  her  husband  an  awful  lot  not  to  hate  him  ut- 
terly? '  I've  thought  of  it  often  since." 

"  But,"  said  Thurley,  "  aren't  you  glad  you're  mar- 
ried? " 


348  THURLEY  RUXTON 

Alice  smiled.  "  My  dear,  I  like  the  changes  of  cli- 
mate. I'm  hardy  enough  to  endure  them,  and  they 
make  me  hardier  for  more.  Now  I  think  you'd  better 
rest  awhile,  for  your  three  in  tandem  to-night." 

Thurley  felt  a  great  excitement  instantly  assert  it- 
self, so  much  did  the  meetings  presage.  "  I'll  rest  if 
I  can,"  she  answered,  and  went  to  the  care  of  her  maids. 


CHAPTER  XLVI 

ANSWERING   THE    COUNT 

THURLEY  did  not  rest ;  her  brain  was  too  alive  and  the 
fever  too  active  in  her  pulses.  Mysterious  arrivals, 
plus  an  air  of  hurry  and  excitement,  pervaded  all  the 
house.  She  suffered  herself  to  be  dressed  for  dinner  in 
a  dainty  gown  that,  with  its  softness  and  its  frailty, 
completely  belied  the  strength,  the  courage,  and  the 
resolution  with  which  she  was  amply  endowed. 

Major  Phipps  appeared  in  time  for  dinner.  He  was 
if  possible,  more  tanned,  more  explosive,  and  more 
hearty  than  ever  before.  His  admiration  for  Thurley 
was  likewise  more  pronounced.  He  bragged  of  her  dis- 
covery quite  immodestly,  taking  such  mountains  of 
credit  to  himself  that  Alice  was  thoroughly  shadowed. 

"  The  one  truly  noteworthy  and  creditable  achieve- 
ment of  my  career,  by  George !  "  he  asserted.  "  Re- 
establishes my  mental  acumen.  It  does,  sir!  I've 
said  so  repeatedly.  But  by  the  gods  of  battle!  that 
satisfaction  is  nothing  as  compared  with  the  fatherly 
affection  engendered  in  my  breast  —  fatherly  and 
brotherly  and  uncleish  —  and  —  and —  " 

"  Angelic,"  Alice  supplied  dryly.  "  It's  very  beauti- 
ful and  touching.  But  will  you  kindly  indicate  whether 
or  not  you  will  have  some  peas,  thereby  providing  a 
moment  for  Thurley's  blushes  to  subside?  " 

Thurley's  color,  however,  was  destined  for  the  brief- 

349 


350  THURLEY  RUXTON 

est  subsidence.  The  Major  kept  it  flaming  pleasurably 
for  an  hour,  both  during  and  after  dinner;  and  eight 
o'clock  romped  in  upon  them  all,  it  seemed  quite  pre- 
maturely, to  ignite  it  again. 

Alice  herself  was  nervously  perturbed  and  a  trifle 
feverish,  when  one  of  the  servants  came  to  announce 
the  arrival  of  Count  Fiaschi. 

The  Major  excused  himself  in  haste  and  promptly 
disappeared. 

Alice,  in  one  of  her  motherly  moods,  came  swiftly  to 
her  "  Princess  "  and  placed  both  hands  on  her  shoulders. 
"  Because  he  happened  to  demand  that  he  see  you  alone 
is  no  reason  why  Fiaschi  should  be  gratified,  unless  you 
wish  it,"  she  said.  "  I  feel  as  if  perhaps  it  might  be 
much  easier  if  I  remained  with  you  as  chaperon  all  the 
time  he  is  here." 

"If  the  horrid  creature  should  attempt  what  he  did 
before  —  Thurley  halted,  vividly  remembering  the 
kiss  that  Fiaschi  had  dared  to  misappropriate.  "  Of 
course  he  wouldn't  if  you  were  there.  And  yet  if  he's 
here  to  demand  —  Perhaps  the  way  we  have  planned 
it  is  the  best,  after  all.  You're  sure  that  she  —  that 
everything  is  ready?  " 

"Leave  that  to  me,"  said  Alice,  a  little  pale,  but 
smiling.  "  I'll  go  with  you  now  and  excuse  myself  at 
once." 

They  went  together  to  the  golden  room  where  the 
Count  was  impatiently  waiting. 

He  was  flushed  with  a  sense  of  victory  over  Gaillard 
and  his  own  irresistible  prowess  with  the  women.  He 
had  sent  great  masses  of  roses  earlier  and  was  certain 
now  that  the  single  American  beauty  worn  on  Thurley's 
bosom  was  selected  from  his  offering.  He  could  never 


ANSWERING  THE  COUNT  351 

have  dreamed  it  was  Stuyverant's  rose,  worn  as  a  to- 
ken of  their  comradeship,  and  also  as  a  talisman  to 
guard  her  heart  from  evil. 

To  do  him  credit  for  mere  physical  appearance,  the 
Count  had  never  been  handsomer  in  his  life.  His 
glossy  black  hair,  his  damask  skin,  and  his  long  lashed 
eyes,  which  burned  like  molten  garnets,  dashed  with 
liquid  whirls  of  brown  and  ebony,  were  practically 
physical  perfection.  Only  his  mouth,  over-red  and  sen- 
suous, supplied  a  hint  of  the  animal  crouched  behind 
his  mask. 

He  wasted  no  energy  in  passing  the  time  of  day. 
"  Ah !  the  banishment  of  all  the  little  fidgeting  world !  " 
he  exclaimed  in  immediate  rapture,  as  Thurley  and 
Alice  advanced  to  give  him  formal  greeting.  "  By  the 
vision  of  yourself  I  am  transported  —  yes,  as  on  the 
wings  of  ecstasy  that  for  the  highest  exaltations  shall 
exist !  "  and  he  took  Thurley 's  hand  to  raise  it  toward 
his  lips,  almost  ignoring  Alice,  to  whom  he  should  have 
first  addressed  himself. 

Thurley  smiled  conventionally,  withdrawing  her  hand 
with  a  firm  slow  gesture  at  once  reserved  and  vigor- 
ous. "  How  interesting  if  visions  took  the  place  of 
aeroplanes ! "  she  answered  lightly.  "  It  is  said  the 
transportation  business  is  very  profitable." 

"  Ah ! "  said  Fiaschi.  "  Madam  Van  Kirk,  I  am 
charmed  likewise  at  this  encounter,  yes ! " 

"Only  charmed?"  said  Alice,  arching  her  brows. 
"  Not  one  little  flight  when  you  see  me?  Perhaps  you 
wish  to  surprise  me  later?  " 

Thurley  felt  her  heart  give  a  knock  at  the  hidden 
suggestion. 

"Ah!"  said  the  Count.     "It  is  not  a  fault  to  be 


352  THURLEY  RUXTON 

•:-••-,.  ~-  f\ 

blind  —  it  is  one  affliction.  Shall  I  not  be  blind  when 
I  thus  behold  Miss  Thurley?" 

To  give  him  due  credit  once  again,  Thurley  was 
matchless,  brilliantly,  bewilderingly  beautiful,  the  ani- 
mation of  suppressed  excitement,  plus  the  fire  of  resent- 
ment, outblazing  jewel  marvels  in  her  eyes,  her  color 
and  her  pulses  vibrant  with  life  reduced  to  sheer  loveli- 
ness and  magnetism.  Never  had  prettier  patrician 
grace  enthroned  itself  in  her  carriage.  Her  golden 
hair  was  such  a  coronet  as  regal  simplicity  might 
choose  for  its  dainty  queen.  Her  arms  and  her  shoul- 
ders were  superb.  Ariel,  Titania,  Diana,  the  exquisite 
beings  and  goddesses  of  all  the  ages,  might  have  be- 
queathed her  a  tithe  apiece  of  their  own  loveliness  to 
make  her  the  Princess  she  was.  • 

"Blind?"  said  Alice.  "I  have  often  wondered  if 
love  is  so  blind  that  a  married  man  cannot  see  another 
pretty  woman." 

If  the  Count  changed  color  for  a  second,  he  instantly 
laughed  it  away.  "  Ah!  this  American  wit!  "  said  he. 
"  The  rapier  is  not  more  quick,  more  certain."  He  was 
ill  at  ease  with  Alice  in  the  room ;  but  concealed  his  im- 
patience with  some  degree  of  art. 

"  Well,"  said  Alice,  shrugging  her  shoulders,  "  since 
I  am  not  seen,  perhaps  I  may  be  excused  for  a  moment, 
by  your  leave." 

Fiaschi  made  little  concealment  of  his  pleasure,  thus 
to  be  left  alone  with  Thurley.  No  sooner  was  Alice 
gone  than  he  strode  hot-paced  to  where  the  "  Princess  " 
had  taken  a  seat. 

She  rose  at  once,  not  to  be  taken  at  the  slightest 
disadvantage. 

"  For   this   moment   I    have   lived   and    could   have 


ANSWERING  THE  COUNT  353 

died ! "  he  breathed  with  suddenly  liberated  fervor,  once 
more  catching  up  her  hand  and  attempting  to  press 
his  lips  upon  it.  "  If  it  were  only  that  some  word  were 
sufficiently  beautiful  to  name  you  in, —  some  word 
more  fragrant,  more  passionate,  more  enraptured 
than  '  divinity,' —  ah !  how  my  soul  would  leap  to 
its  birth  —  to  lay  it  at  your  feet !  My  idol  — 
my  —  " 

"Will  you  not  be  seated?"  Thurley  interrupted, 
her  breath  coming  quickly,  her  anger  rising,  as  she  felt 
the  insult  of  his  words  and  glances,  while  his  eyes 
sought  to  rivet  her  own.  "  You  mentioned  in  your 
note  some  special  reason  for  an  interview." 

"Ah!  and  you  have  not  guessed?  You  have  not 
been  aware  of  my  soul's  desire,  my  famishing  of  the 
spirit,  my  heart's  consuming  thirst?  I  did  not  suppose 
even  walls,  the  horrible  tumult  of  this  city,  anything, 
could  upon  it  avail  to  close  it  out!  But  I  have  waited 
its  accomplishment  how  —  God  alone  knows  —  this 
waiting!  But  I  wished  to  come  with  my  hands,  my 
arms,  brimming  with  fortune!  It  is  done.  I  have 
come  to-night  —  " 

"  To  tell  me  you  have  made  a  fortune?  May  I  offer 
my  congratulations?" 

Thurley  was  a  little  fearful  of  his  ardor,  fearful  of 
some  spring  of  the  animal  she  felt  behind  his  smile  and 
eyes.  She  could  only  hope  for  the  moment  to  dash  his 
heats  with  the  coldly  commonplace. 

As  well  might  she  have  attempted  to  dash  a  Vesuvian 
eruption.  "  The  fortune,  bah ! "  said  Fiaschi  more 
warmly  than  before,  his  hands  fairly  wrung  and  per- 
spiring with  impatience  to  clasp  her  hotly  by  the  arms 
and  strain  her  to  his  lips.  "  It  is  a  bauble  only  to  drop 


354  THURLEY  RUXTON 

at  your  feet  and  forget !  But  the  love  I  lavish  —  the 
adoration  —  " 

"  Listen !  "  said  Thurley,  interrupting  desperately. 
"  I  thought  I  heard  the  bell.  I  must  ask  your  pardon 
if  I  presently  have  to  excuse  myself.  I'm  expecting 
another  caller,  who  is  likewise  coming  on  business." 

"Business?"  echoed  Fiaschi.     "Business?" 

Thurley's  strength  came  surging  to  her  aid. 
"  What  else  could  it  be  you  particularly  wished  to 
say?" 

The  Count  was  increasingly  agitated.  "  It  is  not 
business  —  the  mighty  demand  of  the  soul !  "  he  cried 
to  her  fervently.  "  Yet  I  have  tried  to  ask  before,  and 
I  ask  again  —  a  definite  answer  —  from  your  heart  — 
your  lips !  You  are  now,  already,  my  soul's  one  choice 
—  my  all !  But  —  you  will  be  my  wife  ?  " 

Thurley  paled  when  it  came,  prepared  as  she  was  to 
hear  his  declaration  and  request.  Anger  and  scorn 
flared  quickly  in  her  eyes,  despite  her  efforts  at  control. 
"  Your  answer  to  that?  "  she  asked  him  lightly  clap- 
ping her  hands*  and  trembling  with  surcharged  dynam- 
ics of  the  moment.  "  Your  answer,  Count  Fiaschi, 
is  here." 

A  door  behind  him  had  opened  at  the  signal.  He 
turned  like  a  cat  as  her  glance  sped  past  his  shoulder. 

Countess  Fiaschi,  who  had  come  here  once  to  threaten 
and  if  need  be  to  fight  for  her  rights,  came  haltingly 
into  the  room,  in  front  of  Alice.  She  was  white  as  pa- 
per. She  put  out  her  hand  to  support  herself  from 
falling,  weakly  groping  for  a  chair  near  by,  as  her  eyes 
remained  fixed  on  the  Count. 

"  Volga  me  Dios! "  breathed  the  suddenly  wilted 
Fiaschi.  "  Por  hamor  de  Dios  y  todos  los  santos!  " 


ANSWERING  THE  COUNT  355 

"  It  is  my  right  to  come ! "  cried  his  trembling  wife, 
by  way  of  meeting  the  blazing  anger,  shame,  and  accu- 
sation flaring  in  his  gaze.  "  Forgive  me,  Jose !  It  is 
my  love  —  I  could  not  bear  to  let  you  go ! "  She 
went  down  abruptly  on  her  knees  at  his  feet  and  clasped 
him  wildly  by  the  legs.  "  God  help  me  if  I  love  you 
so,"  she  added,  "  for  I  was  sure  I  had  my  love  from 
God!" 

"  Oh,  Thurley,"  said  Alice  quietly,  "  may  I  see  you 
for  a  moment?  " 

Thurley  turned  to  the  Count,  who  remained  there, 
livid,  and  helplessly  staring  at  his  wife.  "  You  will 
excuse  me,  I  am  sure,  if  I  say  good  evening." 

But  the  Count  had  been  stricken  deaf  and  dumb  as 
well  as  pallid  and  blind.  He  made  no  reply  as  Thur- 
ley and  Alice  quitted  the  room  and  left  him  fully  an- 
swered. 

Later  they  heard  the  closing  of  the  door  that  led  to 
the  outside  world.  A  servant  came  to  announce,  in  ac- 
cordance with  directions,  that  the  Count  and  Count- 
ess were  gone.  The  evening  had  fairly  begun. 


CHAPTER  XLVII 

A  THOROUGHBRED 

GAILLARD  had  rarely  in  his  life  felt  more  assured,  more 
confident,  restored,  or  at  his  ease.  The  man  was  amaz- 
ingly transformed.  There  is  no  such  tonic  as  victory 
with  a  dash  of  self  approval.  He  had  entered  on  his 
fight  against  Fiaschi  with  a  vigor  so  reinforced  and 
dominant  that  the  Count  could  scarcely  have  recog- 
nized the  man  he  had  encountered.  He  had  smashed 
his  way  to  supremacy  in  the  situation  with  a  power  that 
astonished  himself. 

To-night  he  was  firmly  on  his  feet  again  —  and 
looked  the  part.  His  skin  was  clear  and  ruddy,  his 
eyes  were  steadied  and  apparently  hardened  to  a  new 
blued  steel  species  of  temper.  With  composure  regained 
and  buoyancy  reasserted  in  his  step  and  carriage,  he 
felt  himself  once  more  master  of  his  destiny  and  able 
to  cope  with  the  world. 

Thurley  was  honestly  glad  to  behold  a  change  so 
complete  and  unexpected.  She  had  once  felt  untold 
admiration  for  the  qualities  crystallized  in  Gaillard's 
composition.  A  slight  recurrence  of  her  oldtime  appre- 
ciation of  his  better  self  stirred  in  her  being  to-night. 
She  knew  he  had  beaten  Fiaschi,  and  for  that  she  re- 
joiced as  a  friend. 

"  You  see  I  couldn't  wait,  in  my  wish  to  tell  it  all  in 
person,"  he  explained,  holding  her  hands  as  she  faced 
him  there  alone.  "  I  wanted  to  come  and  acknowledge 

356 


A  THOROUGHBRED  557 

frankly  that  you  saved  the  situation.  I  wanted  to 
know  that  you  are  glad,  as  I  see  you  are,  in  your  eyes." 

"  It  gratifies  me  very  much,"  she  told  him  sincerely. 
"If  I  helped  a  little,  I  rejoice."  She  withdrew  her 
hands  and  asked  him  to  find  himself  a  seat. 

He  drew  a  chair  close  to  hers  and  leaned  familiarly 
forward,  reaching  to  take  her  hand  again  where  she 
leaned  on  a  golden  stand. 

With  a  motion  apparently  slow  and  unintentioned, 
she  placed  the  hand  in  her  lap. 

"  Thurley,"  he  said,  in  the  modulated  tone  she  had 
once  responded  to  with  thrills,  "  you're  a  noble  little 
girl,  the  finest  little  woman  I  have  known  in  all  the 
world." 

"  Thank  you,"  she  answered  lightly.  "  We  are  both 
still  rather  young." 

He  was  not  to  be  diverted  from  his  purpose.  He 
seemed  almost  not  to  have  heard  her  reply.  "  You 
know  I  told  you,  once  upon  a  time,  there  was  no  one 
like  you,  Thurley.  I  told  you  that  you  were  a  thor- 
oughbred. Remember?" 

Thurley  grew  more  self-possessed.  "  I  recall  — 
some  —  could  it  have  been  in  connection  with  anything 
in  particular?  " 

"  Oh,  come,  little  girl,  you  remember,"  he  said. 
"  I'll  face  it,  take  my  medicine,  everything  I  deserve. 
I  thought  at  one  time  I  was  doomed  for  the  ax;  but 
thank  God  your  spirit's  too  big  for  petty  revenge! 
You  are  a  thoroughbred.  I  knew  it  all  along.  But, 
heavens !  little  Captain  of  the  Tigress,  what  a  wonder- 
ful relief,  what  an  unthinkable  happiness,  to  get  back 
to  our  good  old  chumming  again  and  forget  all  that's 
gone  between !  " 


358  THURLEY  RUXTON 

This  time  he  caught  her  hand  so  swiftly  and  with  a 
grip  so  sure  that  she  had  neither  time  nor  strength  to 
escape. 

"  You  are  hurting  my  fingers,"  she  told  him,  un- 
moved by  his  speech.  "  Please  sit  back  in  your  chair, 
Mr.  Gaillard,  and  —  " 

"Mr.  Gaillard?"  he  echoed  abruptly. 

She  smiled  and  arched  her  brows.  "  What  else 
should  I  say  ?  " 

"  Do  you  mean  to  keep  this  up?  "  he  said.  "  Come 
now,  Thurley,  be  yourself.  You've  punished  me 
enough." 

"Punished  you,  for  what?" 

"  You  know  what  I  mean.  What  does  a  college 
graduate  know  of  what  he  wants,  or  says,  or  does,  at  a 
time  like  that?  You've  punished  me,  Thurley,  and 
you  know  it." 

"Isn't  it  just  the  usual  college  sort  of  thing?" 
She  forced  a  smile  which  his  egotism  misinterpreted. 

"  You  little  rogue ! "  he  answered,  doing  his  best  to 
outmatch  her  mirth  and  laugh  her  mood  away.  "  We 
cared  for  each  other,  as  you  cannot  deny,  and  that  sort 
of  caring  lasts.  If  not,  then  why  your  friendship  now, 
when  you  saw  me  down  and  out?  " 

"  I  agree  to  friendship  heartily,"  she  said.  "  I  hon- 
estly wish  —  " 

"  It's  more  than  that,  little  girl,"  he  interrupted, 
leaning  closer,  as  before.  "  Now  tell  me  candidly,  like 
the  candid  little  girl  I've  always  known,  why  did  you 
fly  to  my  assistance  with!  thirty  thousand  dollars?" 

Her  face  was  grave,  even  pale.  She  faced  him  stead- 
ily. ".  In  the  first  place,  I  very  much  wished  you  to 
beat  that  man,  Count  Fiaschi." 


A  THOROUGHBRED  359 

"  Yes,  I  felt  that,  of  course.  I  understood  all  that. 
But  the  real  reason,  Thurley,  that's  the  one  I'm  after." 
He  was  sure  of  the  corner  to  which  she  was  forced, 
sure  she  would  not  evade,  sure  she  would  melt,  as  in 
the  early  days,  and  tell  him  what  he  wished  to  know, 
if  only  with  her  eyes. 

She  did  not  evade  —  and  her  eyes  were  eloquent  of 
truth.  "  I  have  been  long  anxious  to  repay  you  for 
all  the  flowers  and  chocolates,  the  attentions,  kind- 
nesses, and  college  friendship,"  she  answered  in  a  clear, 
low  voice  that  surprised  herself,  so  violent  was  the  beat- 
ing of  her  heart.  "  I  have  wished  to  even  up  the  fa- 
vors, and  show  you  the  sort  of  friendship  I  learned  was 
all  I  should  ever  have  expected,  there  at  home.  I 
wished  to  preserve  the  friendly  feeling  you  have  always 
entertained.  I  hope  I  have  —  and  I  hope  you  under- 
stand." 

He  could  not  fail  to  understand,  with  a  glaring  vivid- 
ness that  left  him  stunned  and  dazed.  He  was  placed 
under  lifelong  obligations  —  and  cast  to  the  outer 
regions  where  a  formal,  half-cold  friendship  was  all  he 
could  ever  expect.  The  dominant  power,  once  his  and 
neglected,  had  melted  into  air  and  gone  forever.  The 
sense  of  it  all  crept  through  and  over  him  with  the 
tangible  effect  of  a  tide,  chilling  his  being  through  and 
through.  He  was  silent  for  a  moment,  staring  at  her 
fixedly.  When  he  spoke  his  voice  had  changed. 

"You  mean  that,  Thurley?  That's  your  final 
word?" 

She  met  his  gaze  unflinchingly.  "  You  asked  me  to 
be  candid.  I  have  taken  you  at  your  word."  She 
marveled  at  the  ease  with  which  she  answered. 

A  reactionary  passion  rose  for  a  final  beating  against 


360  THURLEY  RUXTON 

the  barriers  within  him.  The  old  self,  yet  to  be  out- 
grown, once  more  took  possession  of  his  mood.  He 
rose  in  his  heat.  "  By  Heaven,"  he  said,  "  if  I'd  known 
of  this  I'd  never  have  taken  your  help,  your  money, 
anything !  You  haven't  the  right  —  You'd  better  be 
careful,  Thurley,  how  you  play  with  a  man  like  this! 
Your  position  here,  this  masquerade  —  " 

"  Don't  threaten  again  to  divulge  it,  please  —  for 
your  own  sake !  "  she  interrupted.  "  It  would  be  so 
useless,  after  what  I  have  planned  for  myself.  It 
would  rob  me  so  utterly  of  all  I  have  remaining  of  the 
Acton  Gaillard  I'm  sure  I  used  to  know." 

"  You've  tricked  me ! "  he  said  less  truculently. 
"  You  are  living  a  trick !  Your  head  has  been  turned ! 
You  seem  to  think  —  Oh,  Thurley,  I  don't  mean  all 
this  madness !  I'm  not  an  absolute  cad !  But  this 
thing  hits  me  —  when  I  was  sure  —  when  I  thought 
you'd  forgiven  —  Forget  what  I've  said !  Tell  me 
you  didn't  mean  it.  I  want  to  be  friends,  be  all  I  ever 
was  —  and  more !  I  want  a  chance  to  prove  I'm  a  bet- 
ter friend  than  you  think.  I've  confessed  my  blunder 
made  at  college.  Let's  be  friends  again  and  begin  all 
over,1  where  we  were  —  " 

Thurley  too  had  risen.  She  had  never  felt  more 
distant  from  him,  more  ostracized  by  all  that  he  said 
and  did,  nor  yet  more  sorry  or  helpless.  She  looked  at 
him  a  little  wistfully,  poignantly  affected  by  it  all. 
"  I  want  your  friendship,  believe  me,"  she  said.  "  I 
want  it  very  much,  and  to  give  you  mine  —  the  most 
that  I  can  offer." 

Something  occurred,  deep  down  in  his  nature,  to  alter 
his  view  of  himself.  His  face  was  twitching  with  the 
struggle  of  his  better  entity  to  force  itself  to  the  top. 


A  THOROUGHBRED  361 

"  All  you  can  offer,"  he  said  peculiarly,  as  much  to 
himself  as  to  Thurley,  and  he  nodded  his  head  with  a 
grim,  if  belated,  comprehension  of  what  it  implied.  "  I 
have  made  a  fool  of  myself !  "  A  ghastly  sort  of  smile 
played  for  a  moment  over  his  features.  "  Will  you 
shake  hands,  Thurley,  for  good  by?  Will  you  let  me 
tell  you  again,  in  a  different  way  —  you  are  a  thor- 
oughbred? " 

She  gave  him  her  hand,  which  he  gripped  as  he  might 
have  clasped  a  man's.  "  You're  more  than  that,"  he 
added  huskily.  "  You're  a  Princess,  if  ever  one 
lived !  "  He  sounded  the  light  in  her  frank  brown  eyes, 
finding  there  nothing  but  the  truth.  "  Good  by,"  he 
murmured,  "  God  keep  you  as  you  are ! " 

And  Thurley  sat  down  when  the  door  had  closed, 
wondering  at  it  all.  She  was  there  when  Alice  en- 
tered, excited  by  new  events. 

"  The  Duke  has  been  here  for  nearly  fifteen  min- 
utes ! "  she  said.  "  And  now  here's  the  Baron  and 
Wenck!" 

"  I  know,"  said  the  Princess,  smiling  faintly.  "  I 
wrote  and  asked  them  to  come." 

"Good  Lord,"  said  Alice.  "Talk  about  the 
Sphinx!  I  just  saw  number  two  go  out — Acton,  of 
course  —  and  looking  more  as  if  he  had  found  himself 
than  I  think  I  somehow  expected." 

"Oh,  I'm  glad!"  said  Thurley  honestly.  "That 
makes  me  very  happy !  " 

Alice  looked  her  disconcerted  puzzlement.  After 
all  her  hopes  she  was  nearly  convinced  that  Gaillard 
still  possessed  the  girl's  real  heart,  in  spite  of  all  that 
had  happened. 

"  The  Duke  is  wearing  out  his  shoes,  his  pockets, 


362  THURLEY  RUXTON 

and  his  intellect,"  she  stated  in  her  customary  spirit. 
"  Will  you  have  him  in  with  his  tamer,  or  alone?  " 

Thurley  smiled  a  little  wearily.  "  He  probably  pre- 
fers to  come  alone,  like  all  the  others." 

"  You  poor,  dear  child ! "  said  Alice,  and  kissed  her 
in  sympathy  and  love. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII 

A   CLIMAX 

THE  something  boyishly  honest  in  the  Duke  —  a 
charming  quality  that  Thurley  had  previously  en- 
joyed —  beset  her  now  as  she  faced  him  candidly,  re- 
solved to  win  him  to  the  plan  that  she  felt  would  make 
for  the  happiness  of  all.  He  was  dressed  as  Colonel  of 
the  Baron's  Regiment  von  Seydlitz,  and  was  splendid 
and  good  to  see.  She  found  the  matter  difficult,  in  the 
light  of  his  repeated  protestations  that  he  would  not 
return  to  Hertzegotha  without  her  and  that  Kingdoms 
were  hateful  in  his  sight. 

"  You  see  you  haven't  been  fair,"  she  said,  smiling 
to  take  away  the  sting.  "  When  you  knew  I  was  not 
the  Princess,  but  the  merest  no-one  in  America,  you 
treated  me  quite  as  if  you  had  never  met  your  fiancee 
and  were  ready  to  let  me  think  you  thought  me  she. 
You'll  admit  to  me  now  that  you  knew  it  all  from  the 
first?  " 

He  nodded.  "  And  that  I  was  your  slave  also,  from 
the  first." 

She  laughed  at  his  gravity.  "  But  nobody  wants  a 
little  cheat." 

"It  is  true;  yet  everybody  wants  a  little  Princess." 

"But  I'm  not!" 

"  But  you  are !  " 

"  Oh,  we're  wasting  such  a  lot  of  time ! "  she  de- 
clared. "  I  just  know  you're  ashamed  of  the  way  you 

363 


864  THUKLEY  RUXTON 

are  treating  Princess  Thirvinia!  I  know  that  deep  in 
your  heart  of  hearts  your  sense  of  duty  to  your  coun- 
try cries  out  as  love  could  never  cry,  that  you  know 
you  must  go,  and  you  wish  to  go  —  and  take  the 
Princess  with  you  as  your  bride!  I  shouldn't  like  you 
in  the  least  if  you  were  any  other  way.  And  you  want 
me  to  like  you  a  little?  " 

"  Oh,  god  of  love ! "  he  answered,  as  only  a  tragic 
youth  may  answer.  "  But  surely  you  can  like  me  a 
little  for  myself?  " 

She  was  very  much  in  earnest.  "  Not  a  particle  if 
you  abandon  your  affianced  Princess,  your  distracted 
Kingdom,  or  the  nobler  self  I  wish  so  much  to  admire." 

"  But  when  I  love  you  —  "  he  protested.  "  Is  that 
nothing?  " 

"  No,"  she  laughed,  "  it's  a  nuisance  —  to  everyone 
but  me.  But  the  love  of  a  man  who  deserts  his  country 
and  his  honor  —  Oh !  " 

His  sense  of  shame,  only  a  little  narcotized  by  the 
brilliance  and  appeal  of  her  beauty,  struggled  in  his 
heart.  "  But  —  Princess  —  I  am  helpless,"  he  de- 
clared. "  What  can  I  do?  " 

"  Shake  hands  and  say  good  by,"  she  answered  read- 
ily. "  Promise  you'll  make  your  genuine  Princess 
happy,  and  serve  your  land,  and  let  me  call  the  Baron 
here  and  tell  him  how  greatly  I  admire  you." 

"  The  Baron?  "  he  echoed.     "  He  is  not  here?  " 

"  Of  course,"  said  Thurley.  "  I  wrote  him  to  come. 
I'll  ask  him  now  —  " 

Her  sentence  was  never  completed. 

A  glare  of  blinding  light  that  penetrated  the  win- 
dow's thickest  curtains  flashed  from  without,  in  the 
snow-bound  park.  A  terrifying  detonation,  shatter- 


365 

ing  glass  and  rocking  the  house,  instantly  followed, 
with  a  jar  and  a  shock  as  if  of  some  world  disaster. 
Shrieks  and  screams  from  the  avenue,  someone's  cry 
witihin  the  building,  and  a  heterogeneous  medley  of 
alarms  arose  on  the  second  of  lull  that  followed  the 
thud  and  impact  of  the  explosion. 

Then  the  door  was  flung  open  and  Alice  was  there, 
wild  eyed  and  gasping,  horrified  by  the  dreadful  things 
she  had  fully  expected  to  discover  in  the  room  where 
Thurley  had  been  left. 

"  Deary !  "  she  cried.     "  Thank  God  !     I  thought  —  " 

"  Karl !  "  cried  the  voice  of  the  Baron  at  her  heels, 
and,  he  ran  in  after  Alice,  as  certain  as  she  that  here 
in  this  room  a  dynamite  bomb  had  been  fired. 

"What  was  it?"  cried  Thurley,  abruptly  pos- 
sessed of  a  dread  that  seemed  to  cast  her  back 
to  her  recent  frights  and  perils.  "  What  has  hap- 
pened ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  thought  I  should  die  before  I  could  reach  the 
door ! "  said  Alice,  pale  and  fearfully  shaken.  "  It 
must  have  been  out  in  the  street ! " 

The  Baron  had  hastened  at  once  to  a  window. 
Wenck  had  been  instantly  ordered  outside  to  see  what 
might  be  done. 

"  Ah,  in  the  park ! "  said  Hochhaus,  enormously  re- 
lieved, and  the  others  hastened  to  see. 

A  crowd  had  gathered  in  the  street  below  with 
promptness  truly  amazing.  A  swarming,  excited  mass 
of  beings  it  was,  with  men  swiftly  running  from  all  di- 
rections and  cabs,  automobiles  and  'busses  congregat- 
ing in  the  dark,  congested  throng. 

It  was  all  half-lighted  only,  by  the  street  lamps 
gleaming  through  the  trees.  In  the  snow  of  the  park 


366  THURLEY  RUXTON 

the  congress  had  its  center,  and  Wenck,  escaping  from 
the  turgid  eddy  of  beings,  came  hastening  back  to 
report. 

"  Pelevin ! "  he  said  to  his  chief  at  once,  and  Thur- 
ley nearly  sank  where  she  stood. 

Someway,  the  creature,  with  a  gas-pipe  engine  of 
death  and  destruction  in  his  hand,  had  exploded  his 
horrible  implement  prematurely,  there  at  the  wall  of 
the  frozen  park,  on  his  way  to  cross  the  avenue  and  en- 
ter Alice's  basement. 

The  Duke  was  gray  as  ashes.  "  My  God !  what  I 
should  bring  on  this  house ! "  he  said,  and  Thurley, 
dimly  hearing,  understood. 

They)  were  spared  a  detailed  account  of  the  mangled 
form  across  the  crowded  thoroughfare;  but  of  fright 
they  could  not  be  relieved.  The  Baron,  the  Duke,  and 
Wenck  at  length  departed,  Karl-Wilhelm  matured  in 
his  manhood  and  resolution  suddenly,  by  the  shock  to 
his  nerves  and  his  heart. 

He  took  the  time  for  one  long  look  of  gravity  into 
Thurley *s  eyes,  while  her  fearless  gaze  met  his  own. 
"  You  had  already  taught  me  my  duty,  believe  me," 
he  said,  his  face  strangely  hardened  to  that  of  a  man. 
"  I  trust  I  shall  always  merit  a  little  of  your  admira- 
tion—  Princess  Thurley."  He  raised  her  hand  to  his 
lips,  kissed  it  reverently,  and  retreated  backward  from 
the  room. 

Late  that  night,  when  Thurley  looked  down  on  the 
avenue  and  park,  at  last  once  more  deserted,  only  a 
great  gaping  orifice,  where  snow  and  earth  and  rock 
had  been,  marked  the  spot  of  Pelevin's  last  venture. 
Then  Alice  came  in,  still  white  and  quaking,  dressed 
for  retiring,  but  too  disturbed  for  bed. 


A  CLIMAX  S67 

"  Dear  child,  dear  child !  "  she  said  as  she  came  and 
took  her  "  Princess  "  in  her  arms.  "  No  more  of  my 
'  innocent '  game.  I  release  you  from  every  single 
promise ! " 

Thurley  looked  at  her  unwinkingly,  afraid  it  meant 
that,  the  game  being  done,  she  was  due  to  be  dismissed 
and  return  whence  she  had  come. 

"  No  more?  "  she  said.  "  You  —  won't  need  me  any 
longer?  " 

"For  Heaven's  sake,  Deary,  what  do  you  mean?" 
demanded  Alice,  equally  disturbed.  "  Need  you?  I 
never  needed  anyone  so  much  in  all  my  life!  I  simply 
intended  to  release  you  from  all  the  foolish  agreements 
I  exacted.  I  realize  the  dangers  I  have  plunged  you 
in.  I  realize  how  selfish  I  should  be,  after  all  you've 
undergone,  to  deny  you  the  slightest  speck  of  happi- 
ness. That's  all.  If  you  wish  to  marry  Acton  Gail- 
lard—  " 

"  Alice ! "  cried  Thurley,  all  but  ready  to  laugh,  de- 
spite the  tragic  outcome  of  the  evening.  "  Marry 
Acton  Gaillard !  " 

"  You  lent  him  your  money,  and  —  " 

"  Oh,  I'll  get  it  all  back  and  return  it  to  you  gladly," 
interrupted  Thurley,  who  had  troubled  her  mind  with- 
out respite  over  all  the  things  she  had  done.  "  I 
didn't  realize  it  was  not  really  mine  to  give.  I  wanted 
him  to  beat  the  Count  —  and  he  did !  I  acted  impul- 
sively, of  course,  I  know;  but  I'll  surely  restore  every 
cent  I  used  and  —  " 

"  Thurley  Ruxton,  what  are  you  talking  about,  you 
silly  little  thing?  "  demanded  Alice,  unable  to  let  her 
continue  further.  "  That  money  was  just  as  much 
yours  as  the  hair  of  your  head.  You  ought  to  be 


368  THURLEY  RUXTON 

spanked1  to  treat  me  so ! "  But  with  tears  in  her  eyes 
she  clasped  the  girl  against  her  breast  and  strained  her 
there  with  all  her  strength.  "  You  know  that  I  love 
you.  You  know  I  approve  of  every  single  thing  you've 
done  —  at  last !  If  you  wish  to  marry  Mr.  Gaillard, 
I  know  that  —  someway  —  he  must  be  splendid !  " 

"But  I  don't,"  objected  Thurley.  "I  don't  see 
why  you  ever  thought  I  could !  " 

Alice  pushed  herself  away  and  looked  her  squarely 
in  the1  eyes.  "  I'm  a  kitten  under  nine  days  old,"  she 
said.  "  Maybe  you'd  rather  not  marry  anyone  at  all." 

Thurley  suddenly  crimsoned;  but  the  light  in  her 
eyes  increased.  "  I  admit  it  would  have  been  awfully 
sweet  to  let  Robley  ask  me,  riding  that  morning  in  the 
snow,"  she  said ;  "  but  I  wanted  to  keep  the  promise 
made  to  you." 

Alice's  eyes  were  abruptly  brimming.  "  You  poor 
dear,  darling  little  girl ! "  she  said,  attempting  to 
laugh,  but  achieving  something  nearer  to  a  sob.  "  Let 
me  call  him  up  on  the  'phone." 


CHAPTER  XLIX 

A    TRYSTING    PLACE 

THE  telephone  was  not  disturbed  that  night.  A  mere 
metal  wire  has  frequently  warmed  and  tingled  at  the 
voice  of  Cupid,  speeding  down  its  length;  but  Thurley 
had  plans  that  were  all  her  own,  as  well  as  a  number 
of  things  to  say,  that  took  no  account  of  instruments 
that  render  distance  between  the  principals  obligatory. 

Sometime  late  that  Friday  night  Gotham  weather 
changed.  A  warm  wind,  drifting  a  tropical  tempera- 
ture from  Tampa  to  the  bleakness  of  New  England, 
wrapped  all  the  world  of  Manhattan  in  its  voluptuous 
embrace  and  melted  the  snow  from  its  bosom. 

The  morning  broke  with  crystal  clearness,  the  sun  all 
gold  in  a  turquoise  sky,  and  the  summery  breeze  now 
languidly  puffing  at  eddying  pools  of  melted  snow  till 
they  withered  and  floated  away. 

The  only  mar  in  all  the  perfect  morning  was  supplied 
by  the  city  newspapers.  Their  accounts  of  the  end  of 
the  miserable  Pelevin,  almost  unanimously  pronounced 
a  Black  Hand  agent,  whose  plot  had  judicially  miscar- 
ried, served  to  reawaken  fears  already  sufficiently  sleep- 
less. 

But  youth  is  retentive  of  joys  and  hopes  where 
alarms  find  but  temporary  lodgment.  Thurley  was 
young,  and  her  heart  was  too  full  of  her  own  excite- 
ments to  permit  large  room  for  dreads. 

She;  passed  the  morning  in  a  constant  succession  of 
369 


370  THURLEY  RUXTON 

fevers  and  doubts  concerned  alone  with  Robley  Stuy- 
verant.  But  leaning  on  Alice  for  assistance  was  enor- 
mously sustaining;  for  Alice  certainly  helped.  It  was 
she  who  telephoned  at  last  to  Stuyverant,  when  the 
psychological  moment  had  arrived. 

That  was  at  two  in  the  afternoon. 

"  Just  called  you  up  to  relieve  your  mind  and  set  a 
misconception  straight,"  she  told  him  cheerily.  "  That 
loan,  you  know,  of  thirty  thousand,  to  a  certain 
individual.  It  was  the  prettiest  two-edged  stroke 
I've  seen  for  an  age.  Yes.  It  floored  a  certain 
Count  and  paralyzed  its  recipient  like  a  million 
volts  coming  from  a  hairpin.  No,  I'll  tell  you  all 
about  it  later.  Why,  I'm  trying  to  inform  you  deli- 
cately. She  did  it  because  she  wanted  to  squelch  them 
both.  Yes,  I  thought  perhaps  you'd  like  to  know 
where  to  find  her.  No,  she  isn't  here.  I  don't  know 
exactly  where  she  is  myself.  Now  listen  intently.  She 
said  she  was  going  over  in  the  park,  —  to  some  won- 
derfully romantic  spot  where  someone  broke  his  wrist 
one  day  —  but  for  what  earthly  reason  is  more  than 
mortal  could  guess.  Now  wait!  Don't  hurry!  Rob- 
ley  ! "  But  there  was  silence  on  the  wire. 

Thurley,  at  a  little  past  the  hour  of  two,  was  seated 
alone  on  that  particular  bench  she  had  one  day  occu- 
pied when  all  the  world,  though  clothed  in  the  splen- 
dors of  its  autumn  gold  and  crimson,  was  a  gray  and 
desolate  perspective,  so  far  as  she  could  discern  its 
wide  expanse. 

To-day  the  sun  obliquely  slanted  on  denuded  trees 
and  on  grass  down  beaten  and  sodden  from  the  recent 
snow,  as  well  as  on  roads  that,  here  in  the  sections  of 
the  park  unfavored  by  the  pomp  and  glory  of  wealth, 


A  TRYSTING  PLACE  871 

were  practically  deserted.  Yet  gleams  of  the  world's 
most  refulgent  light  seemed  beckoning  on  all  her  far 
horizon,  and,  though  she  still  had  doubts  and  tremors, 
interspersed  withi  all  her  hopes,  the  prospect  seemed  a 
verdant  field  of  flowers  and  rills  and  song. 

A  plump  gray  squirrel,  bright  eyed,  cozy  in  his  furs, 
and  confident  of  friendship  from  the  whole  human  tribe, 
came  inquiringly  up  to  halt  at  Thurley's  feet  and  beg 
for  alms  to  crack.  He  tucked  first  one,  then  the  other, 
of  his  tiny  paws  in  the  muff  of  his  little  breasts,  gazing 
at  her  appealingly  and  flirting  the  banner  of  his  tail. 

"Hello!"  said  Thurley.  "If  I'd  only  thought  to 
bring  a  bag  of  peanuts ! " 

Her  hungry  little  visitor  leaped  up  to  the  bench, 
came  fearlessly  up  to  walk  across  her  lap,  poked  his 
active  little  nose  against  the  glove  on  her  hand,  then 
leaped  again  to  the  earth  and  weather  trampled  sod, 
where  he  took  up  a  search  for  hidden  treasures. 

Thurley  had  turned  to  watch  him,  when  the  faint,  dis- 
tant purring  of  a  motor  car  spun  her  about  on  the 
seat. 

Stuyverant  came  round  the  bend,  holding  the  wheel 
as  best  he  might  with  a  wrist  still  unequal  to  the  task. 

The  color  leaped  to  Thurley's  cheeks  like  rose  leaves 
tossed  upward  in  a  zephyr.  Then  the  car  was  halted 
and  Stuyverant  rose  to  leap  out  over  his  extra  tires,  as 
he  had  done  on  the  first  occasion. 

"  Oh,  don't  try  that !  "  cried  Thurley,  her  old  impul- 
sive self  immediately  uppermost,  as  she  sprang  to  her 
feet  and  ran  a  little  toward  the  car.  "  Please  don't 
break  anything  more !  " 

He  laughed,  despite  the  depth  of  emotions  in  his 
breast,  alighting  quite  intact. 


372  THURLEY  RUXTON 

She  stood  in  the  road  to  meet  him  and  gave  him  her 
hand,  as  he  came  there  doffing  his  cap. 

"  You  know  I  don't  like  threes,  exactly,"  she  added, 
"  if  it  means  three  injuries,  or  anything  like  that." 

"  I  wonder  if  you'll  ever  meet  me  here  again,"  he  an- 
swered, as  they  turned  to  go  to  her  bench.  "  That's 
the  sort  of  threes  I've  hoped  for  —  the  threes  with 
nothing  but  charm." 

"  But  —  they  might  not  be  —  that  kind  —  after 
all,"  she  faltered,  resuming  the  seat  she  had  occupied. 
"  It's  so  easy  these  days  for  folks  to  be  deceived  —  to 
deceive  themselves  —  and  —  everything." 

He  sat  beside  her  and  leaned  a  little  forward.  His 
face  was  inclined  to  paleness  again,  his  eyes  were  in- 
tensely serious.  "  I  think  I  have  deceived  myself  for 
the  final  time  —  concerning  some  few  things  at  least," 
he  said,  referring  to  his  errors  of  judgment  respecting 
Gaillard  and  her  loan.  "  I  hope  to-day  may  render 
possible  some  final  understandings." 

His  earnestness  a  little  disconcerted  the  happiness  of 
spirit  she  had  instantly  conceived  at  his  coming.  She 
could  only  infer  that  he  had  come  upon  truths  he 
found  not  altogether  pleasant.  "  I  have  never  wished 
to  deceive  you  for  a  moment,"  she  said.  "  I  made  up 
my  mind  to  tell  you  everything  —  absolutely  every- 
thing —  to-day." 

It  was  Stuyverant's  turn  to  be  surprised  and  puz- 
zled. "  Everything,  you  mean,  about  your  duties  to 
Hertzegotha  ?  Wait,  please,  before  you  answer.  This 
may,  perhaps,  be  our  final  little  talk  together  —  our 
last  sunbright  experience,  after  the  Fates  had 
seemed —  I  only  wish  to  say  that  on  the  morning 
when  we  drove  together  through  the  snow  I  spoke  un- 


A  TRYSTING  PLACE  373 

guardedly.  The  stress  of  the  moment,  everything,  con- 
spired to  wring  that  declaration  from  my  lips,  and 
yet  —  " 

Her  heart  was  sinking.  "  You  didn't  mean  it  ?  " 
She  tried  to  smile  as  the  sunlight  seemed  about  to  van- 
ish. 

"  I  have  come  here  to  confess  and  sue  for  pardon  to- 
gether," he  told  her,  holding  her  gaze  to  his  own  with 
ties  grown  sacred  and  irresistible.  "  I  love  you,  Prin- 
cess, despite  my  utmost  wish  or  sense  of  the  hopeless 
plight  into  which  I  am  plunged.  I  shall  love  you  al- 
ways, even  though  I  have  no  right,  even  although  you 
bid  it  cease,  for  its  haunting  echo  in  your  after  years. 
I  would  give  my  life  to  serve  you.  I  would  almost  give 
it  for  this  moment  here  —  ours,  all  ours,  so  long  as  it 
may  last !  And  if  you  find  this  quite  beyond  your  par- 
don, nevertheless  my  love  shall  live;  for  none  save  God 
could  make  it  die!  And  yet  I  hope  for  your  pardon." 

She  had  closed  her  eyes  and  leaned  a  little  back,  in 
the  sweetness  and  marvelous  ecstasy  she  had  no  power 
at  that  moment  to  deny  her  heart,  which  had  yearned 
and  ached  for  his  words. 

After  a  moment  of  silence  and  intensity  he  added. 
"  I  am  not  to  be  forgiven  ?  " 

"  Oh,  don't  say  that !  "  she  begged  him  suddenly. 
"It  is  I  —  I  who  must  beg  for  forgiveness.  But  I 
came  to  tell  you  all  —  every  little  thing  —  that  I  am 
not  a  Princess  —  that  I  am  nothing  in  the  world  but 
just  —  " 

"  Not  a  Princess ! "  he  interrupted  suddenly,  catch- 
ing at  her  hand,  which  he  held  with  a  pressure  that  hurt 
and  crushed,  yet  sent  mad  gladness  to  her  heart.  "  Not 
Princess  Thirvinia?  Not — " 


374  THURLEY  RUXTON 

"  Oh,  no,  no,  no ! "  she  cried.  "  But  I  never  claimed 
I  was!  Alice  never  claimed  it!  We  just  —  let  the 
rumor  go.  I  don't  know  why  we  did  it.  We  never 
realized  what  dreadful  things  might  happen,  what 
serious  consequences  —  " 

"Thurley!  Thurley!  Thank  God!"  he  broke  in, 
wildly  joyous,  unspeakably  relieved.  "  I  have  a  right 
to  love  you  then  —  to  love  you  and  love  you  and  love 
you!"  " 

She  suddenly  sprang  to  her  feet,  to  avoid  the  mad- 
ness of  his  wooing.  "  But  —  wait !  "  she  cried.  "  I've 
got  to  tell  you  all !  I  am  no  one  —  no  one  —  no  one 
in  the  world!  I  don't  belong  in  your  social  sphere. 
I'm  only  what  Alice  has  made  me !  Now  —  now  — 
you  can  take  it  all  back  if  you  like ! "  She  had  never 
been  braver,  never  more  beautiful,  honest,  splendid,  in 
all  her  changeful  career.  She  faced  him  frankly,  her 
wonderful  courage  and  candor  shining  in  her  eyes,  with 
a  light  of  love  she  feared  at  that  moment  must  be  for- 
ever hopeless. 

"  Little  heart !  "  he  said,  his  utterance  singularly 
soft  and  charged  with  tenderness.  "  You  are  my  little 
Princess,  my  glorious  little  Queen.  You  are  what  the 
gods  have  made  you  —  my  Thurley  —  the  noblest, 
sweetest  little  woman  in  the  world !  " 

She  sank  on  the  bench,  weakly,  her  eyes  abruptly 
filled.  "  Oh,  Robley  —  don't  say  it,  please,"  she 
begged,  "  if  you  ever  want  to  take  it  back  again ! " 

He  sank  on  his  knee,  despite  all  sense  of  the  time  or 
place,  and  kissed  her  hand.  "  Comrade ! "  he  said. 
"Beloved!" 

He  drove  the  car  when  at  last  they  knew  they  must 
return  to  her  avenue  home.  They  were  alone  at  last 


A  TRYSTING  PLACE  375 

in  the  room  wherein  so  many  emotions  had  run  their 
course.  She  came  to  him  simply,  such  a  wealth  of  love 
overbrimming  her  eyes  that  Robley's  senses  lifted  away 
from  all  the  things  of  earth. 

He  held  her  passionately  in  his  arms,  while  her  own 
arms  stole  about  his  neck.  Then  they  took  and  gav« 
the  wondrous  kiss  of  glory. 


CHAPTER  L 

PBINCESS    THURLEY 

THE  social  triumph  of  Alice  Van  Kirk  was  in  no  wise 
diminished  when  at  length  the  truth  concerning  Prin- 
cess Thirvinia  was  known  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  Swelldom.  Thurley  had  gained,  rather  than 
lost,  admiring  hosts,  and  the  natural  interest  excited 
was  increased. 

The  dinner  that  Alice  long  had  planned  was  the  sea- 
son's social  masterpiece.  The  holidays  were  spent 
away  from  town,  where  Robley  and  Thurley,  like  two 
young  striplings  from  the  Pantheon,  before  the  pagan 
gods  and  goddesses  had  lost  their  pristine  charm,  found 
new  delights  and  new  relations  with  the  earth  and  stars 
in  the  wonder  of  their  love. 

A  brilliant  procession  of  social  events  marched 
through  the  weeks  as  they  sped.  The  recent  past, 
with  its  doubts  and  fears,  its  excitements,  intrigues, 
and  startling  evolutions,  was  gliding  away  on  the  placid 
sea  of  memory,  when  one  more  echo  rolled  across  from 
far  Hertzegotha,  where  the  young  Grand  Duke  with  a 
bride  resembling  Thurley  Ruxton  had  succeeded  to  the 
throne. 

It  came  in  the  name  of  their  majesties,  but  bore  the 
signature  of  Baron  von  Hochhaus,  whose  personal  let- 
ter was  attached. 

"  In  recognition  of  invaluable  services  to  Princess 
Thirvinia,  to  the  Kingdom  of  Hertzegotha,  and  to 

376 


A  honeymovn  day  was  wafting  lazily  by. 


PRINCESS  THURLEY  377 

Karl-Wilhelm-Herman,  King  by  the  grace  of  God,  and 
in  the  name  and  with  the  love  of  an  appreciative  and 
perpetually  grateful  people,"  was  the  reading  of  part 
of  the  message  which  described  a  modest,  but  glorious 
girl  as  "  defender  of  her  Majesty  the  Queen  "  and  a 
"  Princess  by  special  appointment  of  Heaven." 

It  was  a  triple  "  recognition."  There  was  first  the 
scroll,  a  gold  laid,  massive  and  impressive  document, 
denoting  the  "  extraordinary  "  service  rendered,  then 
"  in  partial  liquidation  of  the  State's  indebtedness  "  a 
gift  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and 
finally  a  medal  and  full  decoration  of  the  Royal  Legion 
of  Courage. 

But  the  last  little  contribution,  which  succeeded  in 
quite  overwhelming  the  heart  of  the  "  Princess  by  ap- 
pointment of  Heaven  "  was  the  merest  unofficial  scrawl 
from  the  big  proportioned  little  Baron.  "  I  trust  the 
love  of  an  old  man,  fond  in  his  own  poor  personal  ca- 
pacity, may  likewise  be  accepted." 

There  was  much  that  was  golden  and  marvelously 
sweet  to  gaze  back  upon  in  wonder  as  Thurley  and 
Robley,  at  the  stern  of  the  great  Atlantic  liner,  watched 
all  America,  green  with  coming  spring,  dip  slowly  down 
in  the  purple  sea  and  disappear  behind  the  earth's  ro- 
tundity. There  was  much  that  was  splendid  and  dream 
fulfilling  for  them  both  to  contemplate,  far  out  to  the 
east,  where  an  older  world  would  rise  from  the  sea, 
above  the  rounded  bulk  of  ocean.  But  most  of  all  and 
greater  than  all  was  the  world  of  limitless  space  and 
inexpressible  splendor  that  the  two  beheld  when  they 
looked  again  in  each  other's  eyes. '  A  honeymoon  day 
from  the  tropics,  spiced  with  the  fragrances  of  far-off 
Yucatan,  was  wafting  lazily  by. 


378  THURLEY  RUXTON 

Thurley  smiled  as  she  gazed  at  the  sun  splash  in  the 
water.  "  Is  it  too  soon  yet,"  she  said,  "  to  ask  where 
I'm  going  to  be  taken  ?  " 

"  To  motor  through  Egypt  first,"  he  answered  hap- 
pily, "  then  all  about  the  Continent,  and  perhaps  to 
Hertzegotha." 

She  clung  to  his  arm  and  leaned  upon  his  shoulder, 
closing  her  eyes  in  the  sheer  delight  she  had  no  words 
to  express. 

Like  the  Prince  in  the  tale,  he  leaned  in  rapture  and 
kissed  her  on  the  lips. 

But  to  all  the  world  of  love  and  ecstasy  the  Princess 
was  already  wide  awake. 


THE  END 


A    000  111  168     1 


